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Coronavirus Hong Kong: give elderly in care homes BioNTech vaccine instead of Sinovac to better protect them, patients’ concern group says
- German-made BioNTech offers more effective protection in a shorter span of time, says Patients and Healthcare Professionals Rights Association
- Numbers could jump in coming weeks, it warns, pointing to approaching Easter holiday and expected easing of social-distance measures on April 21
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The government should offer elderly residents of care homes the BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 instead of the one made by Sinovac so as to better protect them, a patients’ concern group in Hong Kong has suggested.
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The Patients and Healthcare Professionals Rights Association on Sunday said people who received two jabs of the German-made BioNTech within the span of 21 days had more effective protection against the virus in a shorter span of time than those who received three doses of the Chinese-manufactured Sinovac spaced over four months.
Association convenor Dr Jeffrey Pong Chiu-fai argued the government should supply BioNTech shots to the care home residents unless they or their families refused to give consent.
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“It’s important to encourage the elderly to complete the vaccination schedule as quickly as possible for a proper immunity,” he said, adding that decreasing infection numbers did not mean residents could let down their guard.
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