Just over two million Hongkongers — or close to 30 per cent of the eligible population — have now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 but an expert warned that the city may not achieve the 70 per cent needed for herd immunity until September or October.
Health authorities said 2,009,692 people had received both doses as of Sunday evening, while over 2.8 million people — or around 40 per cent of the population which is eligible for vaccines — had received the first dose only.
Around 40 per cent of those who completed their vaccinations chose the Chinese-developed Sinovac, while the remainder chose BioNTech.
Herd immunity
The vaccination rate remains far below the 70 per cent estimated to be required to achieve herd immunity, the convenor of the government’s advisory panel on Covid-19 vaccines Wallace Lau said during a radio interview on Saturday. At the current rate of 50,000 to 60,000 jabs per day, it may be achieved in September or October, he said.
People with lower immunity may have to receive a third jab while those who are in good health will not need to do so, Lau said.
An expert committee is set to convene on Thursday to discuss whether there is a need for a third booster shot.
Hong Kong recorded two imported Covid-19 cases on Sunday, with one traveller from the US, and one from Bangladesh. The city has recorded 17 new cases in the past two weeks, all of which were judged to be either directly imported or linked to an imported case.
The city has seen a 41-day streak with no local infections. An airport worker initially deemed to be a local case was reclassified last Friday after his case was established as epidemiologically linked to an imported case.
Hong Kong had recorded a total of 11,959 coronavirus cases and 212 deaths as of Sunday evening.
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