Jab Hunting: Why Chinese are flocking to Hong Kong, Macao for COVID vaccines

As COVID-19 infections spread across China, mainlanders are rushing to Hong Kong and Macao to get mRNA vaccines.

This comes as the Asian giant is yet to approve messenger RNA (mRNA) jabs developed by the West on the mainland. As per the World Health Organization (WHO), US-made Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have a 95 per cent efficacy rate against coronavirus.

Let’s take a look at how the Chinese have been flocking to Hong Kong, Macao and even Singapore for these highly-effective mRNA vaccines.

Hong Kong

With China scrapping its mandatory quarantine policy on arrival to the mainland, more and more Chinese are venturing out.

As per Trip.com Group bookings, the most popular destinations for these travellers are Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand. The US, UK and Australia are the preferred places for those looking for long-haul flights, CNN said in its report.

For some, just holidaying is not the only purpose to leave their homes as their country has reopened its borders after three years.

BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA vaccine has been available for free for residents of Hong Kong and Macau, while the mainland has refrained from approving them.

A large number of visitors from the mainland have reached the special Chinese administrative region of Hong Kong for these mRNA vaccines.

Reuters news agency reported that the first batch of mainlanders reached Virtus Medical Centre, a private hospital in Hong Kong, on Thursday (12 January).

A customer, who had received three doses of homegrown vaccine in China, told the news agency that she paid HK$ 1,888 ($241) for her first BioNTech COVID-19 booster dose.

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“I was very tempted to get the vaccine because of the border reopening. There is no bivalent vaccine available in mainland Chin,” Yoyo Liang, a 36-year-old Beijing resident, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Chief medical officer of Virtus, Samuel Kwok, said his company has received over 300 queries about the vaccines, adding that they expect more mainlanders to arrive in Hong Kong in the near future.

As per CNBC, a man from Shaanxi province wrote on Weibo – China’s version of Twitter – a week back, “It’s been long since I went to Hong Kong. I can take a vacation, as well as get vaccinated. Won’t this be killing two birds with one stone? Without saying further, I have made my appointment and am getting ready”.

Sam Radwan, president of the management consultancy Enhance International, told CNBC, that he believes Hong Kong is the “natural first destination of the Chinese vaccine tourism”.

“It will then spread to Asia and the US, maybe extend to Europe,” he added.

China Citic Bank Corporation, a state-owned bank in Hong Kong, is offering its customers one shot of an mRNA vaccine if they deposit at least HK$40,00,000 ($512,200) into an account, Financial Times reported.

Travel group Easson Holdings is also offering packages for vaccine trips to Hong Kong that will include hotel and plane bookings, as well as dropping facilities to vaccine clinics, as per Financial Times.

Hong Kong has said it would not provide free COVID jabs to short-term travellers. In addition, it is demanding that visitors stay a minimum of 30 days to get a booster dose.

“We want to prevent visitors coming to Hong Kong to use the vaccines at the expense of Hong Kong people and we will not offer government procured vaccines free of charge to non-Hong Kong residents,” Hong Kong’s government officials said, as per CNBC.

Other destinations 

Mainland Chinese have also been taking vaccine trips to Macao in recent months.

However, at the Macau University of Science and Technology Hospital, the only place offering jabs to tourists so far, the next available slots are in February, reported CNBC.

In late December, Financial Times reported citing a customer service official at the Macau hospital that the phone had been ringing “nonstop” since the waves of COVID infection in China started gaining steam.

Singapore and Thailand are other viable destinations for vaccine tourists in mainland China.

Last month, Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister said he was considering a proposal to provide free vaccines for foreigners who request booster shots, as per CNBC.

Healthcare providers in Singapore have also seen an uptick in inquiries from Chinese visitors on COVID vaccines since Beijing eased its travel curbs.

ALSO READ: Are Chinese vaccines to blame for its COVID-19 surge? 

China’s vaccines vs mRNA doses

China has ramped up vaccinations, especially among the elderly, amid the ongoing COVID outbreak.

By mid-December, China had fully vaccinated around 87 per cent of its population, while 54 per cent had received their booster dose, CNBC noted.

Out of the eight COVID vaccines approved in China, Sinovac’s CoronaVac and Sinopharm are the most commonly used.

However, both CoronaVac and Sinopharm are inactivated vaccines, meaning they have dead viral particles.

As per clinical trial data, while Sinopharm has an efficacy rate of around 79 per cent, Sinovac-CoronaVac is just 51 per cent effective.

This is significantly lesser than mRNA vaccines which have been found to be more effective at staving off infection, severe death and disease.

According to a study by Hong Kong university researchers, two doses of CoronaVac were not effective against COVID variant Omicron, believed to be driving the infections in China. However, two doses of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine helped the body in building immunity against the variant, as per Slate Magazine.

Meanwhile, even as China remains adamant about not allowing mRNA vaccines produced in the West, it has intensified efforts to develop its own mRNA vaccines, Business Insider reported.

With inputs from agencies

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