Covid-19 | Gov’t mulls suspending AstraZeneca vaccines until next year

The government is now considering to push back the import of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines until 2022, Dr Tai Wa Hou, coordinator of the Health Bureau’s Covid-19 Vaccination Operation disclosed at yesterday’s Covid-19 media briefing.
The importing of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from the manufacturer to Macau is confirmed to not be happening this year, he confirmed.
“The import suspension of AstraZeneca does not involve any cancelation nor violation against the procurement agreements,” Tai stressed, adding that the SAR government has been maintaining discussions with the manufacturer to ensure a smooth operation.
In terms of BioNTech-produced mRNA vaccine, the government has administered around 7,000 doses so far, out of the 50,000 mRNA vaccines supplied which are valid until August 2021.
Considering that the average dose of mRNA vaccine administered daily stood at around 500, the remaining available 40,000 doses of mRNA vaccines are still considered sufficient for use in the coming months, he stressed.
When asked by the media about a possible large amount of unused and expired mRNA vaccine after August, Tai confirmed that the Health Bureau (SSM) is now liaising with the vaccine’s manufacturer in order to come to an agreement to dispatch the mRNA vaccine in small batches in several phases to Macau.
This proposed move is to minimize the number of mRNA vaccines expiring without being used, he added.
Up to now, Macau had received three batches of BioNTech mRNA vaccines — the first, valid until June this year, was suspended for its use due to the packaging defects found on the bottle caps, whilst the second and third batches, both due in August, amounted to a total of 50,000 doses.
Since yesterday, the SAR government has increased the days for mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from India, Pakistan and the Philippines from the original 21 days to 28 days.
Following that, the concerned individuals are not required to observe a seven-day self-health monitoring.
Leong Iek Hou, coordinator at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasized that the stricter measures are intended to minimize the risk for the Covid-19 mutants spreading from these particular high-risk countries to Macau.
She also said the SSM will not rule out any possibility to tighten the anti-pandemic measures for arrivals from Hong Kong, which also reported cases of mutant coronavirus strains over the past few days.

Kiang Wu Hospital to offer Sinopharm vaccine starting today

Stating from today, the Kiang Wu Hospital will offer inoculations of inactivated vaccine, developed by China’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm Group, for local residents and bluecard holders.
The hospital will be the city’s 13th vaccination center.
The registration for vaccination at Kiang Wu Hospital starts at 10 a.m. today and its inoculation is slated to be available after 11 a.m. today.