According to currently available information, the vaccines the Government purchased are effective in providing protection against COVID-19. The Government will continuously monitor the updated information related to the effectiveness of the vaccines.
For individuals with chronic diseases, can I have COVID-19 vaccination?
A concise guide:
The Government provides mRNA technology platform COVID-19 vaccine to members of the public now.
For more information about the COVID-19 vaccines currently available under the Government Programme, please browse FAQ 3 for details.
1. Joint Scientific Committees on Emerging and Zoonotic Disease and Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases
2. Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following COVID-19 Immunisation
Registration under the Pharmacy & Poisons Regulations
Summary
With the large-scale use of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, more and more scientific and clinical data are reinforcing the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. The Government published the Prevention & Control of Disease (Use of Vaccines) (Amendment) Regulation 2022 in the Gazette on 9 September 2022 to introduce a transitional arrangement for vaccines authorized under the Regulation such that the relevant drug manufacturers may, subject to the availability of sufficient scientific data and clinical information, apply to have the relevant vaccines included in the registration regime under the Pharmacy and Poisons Regulations (Cap. 138A)
According to Cap. 138A, pharmaceutical products (including vaccines) must satisfy the criteria of safety, efficacy and quality for registration with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong (the Board) before they can be sold or supplied in Hong Kong. Applicant of registration of pharmaceutical products is required to submit sufficient information to the Board to substantiate the safety, efficacy and quality of the pharmaceutical product. Upon submission of application and the relevant documentation required from applicants of registration, the Board will evaluate the registration application in accordance with established procedures and requirements.
The Department of Health (DH) has put in place a pharmacovigilance system to monitor the safety of registered pharmaceutical products supplied in Hong Kong. The pharmacovigilance system includes an adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting platform, which also receives adverse events following immunization (AEFIs) reports related to vaccination, including COVID-19 vaccination.
If you have any suspected adverse event occurred after immunization, please alert healthcare professionals (e.g. doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and Chinese medicine practitioners), when seeking their advice, to report the AEFIs to the DH if they considered that the AEFIs may be associated with the vaccination.
The main purpose of the pharmacovigilance system is to detect potential signals of possible side effects of the vaccines. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an AEFI is any medical occurrence that follows immunisation and that does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine.
To monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use under Cap. 599K, the DH has set up the Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following COVID-19 Immunisation (“Expert Committee”) to provide independent assessment on the potential causality between AEFIs and COVID-19 vaccination.
Handling of AEFI reports related to COVID-19 vaccination on or before 23 December 2023
Upon receipt of reports of serious or unexpected AEFI, the DH will contact the healthcare professionals whom reported the AEFI to obtain additional information for evaluation. According to the established mechanism, all important cases will be considered by the Expert Committee while other serious or unexpected AEFI cases will be assessed by DH based on the causality assessment algorithm of the WHO.
In general, most causality assessments would be completed within four months from the date of receipt of the AEFI reports. When causality assessment is finished, the DH will inform the causality assessment result to the reporting healthcare professional within two weeks so that the healthcare professional could follow up with his/her patient accordingly. The DH would not contact vaccine recipients directly in relation to AEFI reports. Vaccine recipients or their family members may contact the reporting healthcare professional if they want to know the causality assessment result.
If the vaccine recipient has applied for Indemnity Fund for Adverse Events Following Immunization with Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) Vaccines (AEFI Fund), the DH will also provide the causality assessment result to the third-party Administrator appointed by the Government to process the application of the AEFI Fund (only applicable to vaccination received on or before 23 December 2023. The AEFI Fund will cease accepting new applications involving COVID-19 vaccines administrated on or after 24 December 2023 under the Government's COVID-19 Vaccination Programme).
The Government has announced the arrangement for the Indemnity Fund applications on 18 December 2023, for details please refer to the Press Release (https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202312/18/P2023121800312.htm?fontSize=1).
The Expert Committee has issued the final report on Safety Monitoring of COVID-19 Vaccines in Hong Kong on 29 December 2023, which summarized the data of adverse event reports covering the period from commencement of the COVID-19 vaccination programme to 23 December 2023.
Click here for the Report on the Safety Monitoring of COVID-19 Vaccines in Hong Kong.