The search for the best vaccine

By Ian Chan

(Image taken by the CDC, courtesy of Pexels)

In a surprising turn of events, two of the three established vaccines provided for the Hong Kong public have been delivered. So, is it better to wait for a short time and take one of these two vaccines? Or should we wait for the third vaccine?

On the 19th of February 2021, the first million doses of the Coronavirus vaccine were dispatched to Hong Kong for medical usage. And on the 22nd of February, the top secretaries including Carrie Lam received their vaccination at the community vaccination center set up in Tin Hau.

However, there is still distrust of the vaccine, as the full immunization percent was said to be only 50 percent, which is much lower than that of the other vaccines.

However, a second option for vaccination is the BioNTech vaccine from Germany. If the name sounds familiar it is probably because this company also helped create the Pfizer vaccine. This vaccine has already been delivered to Hong Kong. a total of 585,000 Covid-19 jabs on the morning of the 27th of February. The BioNtech vaccine has been recorded to have a full immunization percent of 90%, far higher than the Sinovac vaccine.

The third of the vaccines tobe used in Hong Kong is the Astrazeneca vaccine, a British-Sweedish vaccine which has an immunization percent of around 80%-90%, similar to that of the BioNTech vaccine. The release schedule for this vaccine has not been confirmed yet but the developers of this vaccine have stated that they would like to release this vaccine to the world around the middle of the year.

So, gathering the information about all three vaccines here which one is the safest to take? From this article we can identify three different factors which can help us deduce which is the best.

First is the effectiveness of the vaccine. Comparing all three of these vaccines the most effective vaccine is the BioNTech vaccine, with an effective rate of 90%.

Next is the release date factor. Which one can you take the fastest? In this category the Sinovac vaccine can be easily taken very soon since the shipment of the vaccine is already in Hong Kong.

The third factor is how convenient it is to take. From what the government has shown us we know that each vaccine will be supplied to different clinics. Unfortunately, because the Astrazeneca vaccine has not arrived in Hong Kong yet, nor does it have a scheduled shipment anytime soon, this vaccine is not yet on this list. Of the government approved places which will administer the vaccine, a total of twenty one of the twenty nine approved clinics will be supplying the BioNTech vaccine. Some places in this list include, the CUHK Medical Center next to the University Station, the Hong Kong International Airport, St.Paul’s Hospital in Wan Chai, and more. Meanwhile the Sinovac vaccine has a total of nine approved clinics, ranging from The Hong Kong Central Library in Wan Chai, to places like Yuen Wo Road Sports Center located in Sha Tin. There are many other approved clinics which will be administering the vaccine Here is the full list.

So, at the present time, after judging these three diverse categories, the BioNTech vaccine rates the best: a 90% full immunization percentage,; already approved and delivered to Hong Kong; and widely available, with twenty one clinics administering it to their patients.