Get Jabbed or Risk Serious Covid Infection, Says Expert

Yuen warns everyone needs to get vaccinated against Covid-19

Infectious disease expert Dr Yuen Kwok-yung believes some 2.5 million people have been infected with Covid-19 since the fifth wave began in late December and projects the caseload will drop to under 1,000 a day in the coming weeks.

The government advisor on the pandemic warned "eradication of the coronavirus will not happen," and urged those who still hadn't gotten jabbed to do so. 

Yuen even went so far as to suggest elderly people should get the German-made BioNTech vaccine rather than the Chinese-made Sinovac one, as the former is more effective at neutralising the Omicron variant, though he agreed everyone should have the freedom to choose which jab to take.

Most vulnerable are elderly not yet jabbed

Finally a medical expert has come out to recommend one over the other, even though the government says both are effective...

He also said the city needs a 95 percent vaccination rate in order to prepare for the next wave of infections.

"The eradication of the coronavirus will not happen. The virus will be with us, and there may be another mutant in the future," Yuen said, noting the city's so-called vaccine pass should also be expanded to cover public transport.

Now it is used to get into shopping malls, restaurants, hotels and hair salons.

While Yuen even called for the easing of restrictions in restaurants and having places like gyms reopened, and flights to Hong Kong resumed, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor would not entertain these suggestions, hinting the city needs to reach "dynamic zero-Covid"...

Who knows? Maybe she will change her mind tomorrow on Monday when she will release the outcome of the "interim review" of social-distancing measures and border control measures.

Yuen suggests vaccine passport for public transit

Today the number of cases dropped further to 14,145, though the death toll is still high at 205, and another 41 backlogged. Hong Kong now has a total of 5,896 deaths since the start of the pandemic, the vast majority of them in the fifth wave.

The authorities cannot vaccinate the elderly fast enough, and on top of it Lam refuses to mandate all seniors must be jabbed... 

And with that kind of decision, it's going to take a while for the fifth wave to be under control...

Fifth Wave Persists in Kwai Chung

100 local Covid-19 cases were logged in Hong Kong today

It is disheartening to see another triple-digit count of Covid-19 infections in Hong Kong today, 100 new cases related to the Kwai Chung housing estate. So far 334 cases are related to 12 of the 16 housing blocks here. 

Residents there are concerned that some may have become infected just from waiting in line to get tested or being in the elevators, let alone all the rubbish left strewn around.

It seems the situation there is also mishandled, or is the system overwhelmed and not enough staff?

Testing continues in Kwai Chung housing estate

A resident tested preliminary positive on Tuesday morning and she and her infected youngest son still hadn't been sent to the hospital by 3pm on Wednesday -- 35 hours after receiving an SMS message with the results.

The two had already developed symptoms like coughing and a fever, she could only take painkillers to relieve her symptoms, while her husband and two older sons were not infected. She and her youngest son are isolating in a bedroom, but they still have to share the bathroom with the rest of the family, so she was worried about transmitting the virus to them.

"Officials gave me multiple calls at 5pm [on Tuesday] and told me I will be sent to hospital and my husband and sons to Penny's Bay... But we still do not know when we can leave our home," she said. "They said they were arranging it for us, and said it was manpower issues."

There were concerns of poor waste management

Not a good excuse when Omicron is so contagious... and Hong Kong is insistent on its "zero-Covid" policy.

Meanwhile there are concerns that China may not open the border with Hong Kong until 2024 which has shocked a lot of people. 

However, it has been proven that Sinovac vaccines only have a 51 percent efficacy in preventing symptomatic disease, and its effectiveness wanes after six months. Meanwhile a University of Hong Kong study has found Pfizer BioNTech has nearly 10 times the average level of antibodies compared to Sinovac, 

But China doesn't want to buy proven mRNA vaccines from overseas and is developing its own and then will vaccinate its population -- again before even considering lifting its border restrictions.

By 2024 what will Hong Kong be like? Can it even financially survive to that point without any foreign tourists and businesspeople and investment coming in?

Earlier we were hearing November 2022, but another two years of this will be too much for many people to bear.

China is developing its own mRNA vaccines

A friend has poured HK$13 million of his own money into a bar that he will open this Friday during social-distancing restrictions. He has renovated a space complete with a stage, special lighting and of course a good sound system.

But he can only open it till 6pm.

How is he ever going to make back his HK$13 million?

Zhong Nanshan Urges China to Learn mRNA Vaccines

Zhong says China can learn to mix and match vaccines

China's top disease expert says the country needs to learn from the West about advanced mRNA vaccine technology, countries should work together, and explore how to mix and match vaccines.

Respiratory scientist Zhong Nanshan was speaking at the Greater Bay Science Forum in Guangzhou on Saturday.

"We should learn about the good things in other countries, such as mRNA vaccines. They have spent years on the research and managed to develop mRNA vaccines [for the coronavirus] in just a few months," Zhong said.

mRNA vaccines teach immune system to fight virus

"The urgency of the disease has accelerated the work in this regard. We should learn [from other countries] aspects such as the technology and delivery mechanism [of mRNA vaccines]."

China originally had reservations about mRNA vaccines but is now developing its own, though late stage trial data has yet to be released.

There is also no news about whether China's drug regulator will approve the mRNA vaccine by German company BioNTech, which has signed a deal with Fosun Pharma to distribute and produce the jabs for greater China.

"In other countries, there are mRNA vaccines and vectored vaccines and there aren't too many choices. In China, we have protein subunit vaccines [like Sinovac that don't contain live pathogens]. If mixing and matching vaccines can yield better results, then we should not feel uneasy about it. We can run together and work together in this regard," he said.

Over 82 percent of China's population vaccinated

Zhong said international cooperation was also required in other areas, such as tracing the origin of the coronavirus and transmission routes.

This need was highlighted by the emergence of the Omicron variant, and the many unknowns about its behaviour and origin," he said.

So far China has fully vaccinated 1.17 billion people, or 82.5 percent of the population. More than 120 million booster shots have been administered, according to the National Health Commission.