BioNTech’s second-generation booster, Hong Kong should procure BioNTech’s Omicron-targeted booster shot as it is more effective than first-generation jabs,
Their comments on Monday were in contrast with fellow adviser Professor Lau Yu-lung, chairman of the Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases, who on Sunday said such a move would be a waste of resources and untimely as data proved that vaccines currently available could prevent serious symptoms and death. The government said on Sunday it was examining the application from the German company, which would later be handed over to the expert panel for review Professor Ivan Hung Fan-ngai, a top infectious disease expert and a member of the government vaccine committee, said on Monday it would be “worth it” for the city to introduce the new booster shot against the dominant BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron strains. “Same as with influenza, even though the variant used to develop the vaccine may not be entirely the same as the prevalent strain, the jab can still boost immunity,” he told a radio programme. BioNTech’s second-generation booster contains a bivalent formulation, meaning it is based on two virus strains – the original Covid-19 type, as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 lines, while a monovalent vaccine is only based on one strain.
BioNTech’s second-generation booster, Citing preliminary data from the United States, Hung said even if the vaccine, whether monovalent or bivalent, was developed using the BA.1 Omicron strain, it would still be more effective against subvariants such as BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 than the first-generation drug, which was based on the original Covid-19 strain. Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are currently the dominant strains in Hong Kong, accounting for 93.8 per cent of samples tested by health authorities. Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a member on Lau’s vaccine advisory panel, also agreed with the call to acquire the new booster jab. He cited the World Health Organization, which has recommended that governments purchase “a broad range” of vaccines that target different variants to give themselves “a plurality of options” when formulating inoculation policies. Contrary to panel chairman Lau, who said the new booster might become outdated as a couple of imported cases involving another new variant BA.2.75 had been recorded in Hong Kong, Hung argued the second-generation shot would provide better protection against new subvariants than previous ones. “The vaccine is made using Omicron subvariants, which is definitely more similar to the current prevalent subvariants,” he explained. “With higher similarity, the vaccine’s ability to create neutralising antibodies and the protection it provides will be greater than the vaccine based on the original virus strain.” He added that while no existing Covid-19 vaccines could prevent infections, jabs would still protect recipients from serious symptoms and death.
Source: This news is originally published by scmp