Macao and Hong Kong announced on Wednesday the suspension of their vaccination campaign with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine after being informed by the laboratory of a problem with the packaging of a batch of vials.
“As a precautionary principle, the current vaccination must be suspended for the duration of the investigation,” said the Hong Kong executive in a statement.
The two territories said they made the decision after being contacted by Fosun, the Chinese pharmaceutical company that distributes the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in China.
According to the authorities, the vials bearing the lot number 210102 showed a defective type of packaging.
The press releases from the authorities in Hong Kong and Macao did not specify the nature of these defects but the two territories stress that this does not present any risk in terms of health security.
The authorities explained that they had acted out of caution pending the conclusions of the investigation.
On social networks, Hong Kong people announced that their appointment on Wednesday was canceled and that some vaccination centers were closed.
One of them, visited by an AFP journalist, had closed doors.