In the statement made by Fosun Pharma, the licensee of the vaccine in China, it was announced that the vaccine will be provided to the private health system in Hong Kong.
In the statement, it was reported that the online platform was opened for Chinese citizens living on the mainland to book vaccines in Hong Kong. Thus, Chinese citizens will be able to travel to Hong Kong and have the vaccine, which is not allowed for emergency use on the mainland.
The Joint Epidemic Prevention and Protection Mechanism of the State Council announced that travel restrictions between the mainland and Hong Kong will be lifted from 8 January.
The vaccine, developed by the BioNTech company, founded by Turkish scientist Uğur Şahin, became one of the most effective vaccines in providing immunity against Kovid-19 with its formula containing messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA).
The vaccine, whose production and distribution rights in China belong to Fosun Pharma, is not used in the mainland, but is used in Hong Kong and Macau special administrative regions of China.
In Macau in November 2022 and in Hong Kong in December 2022, the BioNTech vaccine, which was previously administered only under the control of local governments, was allowed in private clinics for money. It was reported that some citizens living in mainland China traveled to Macau, which has no travel restrictions, to get the vaccine.
Except for the vaccines produced by Chinese companies Sinopharm, Sinovac and CanSino in mainland China, no foreign Kovid-19 vaccines were approved for use.
During the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Beijing in November 2022, an agreement was reached for the limited application of the BioNTech vaccine to German citizens living on the mainland.