Mainlanders Occupying Hong Kong Say, "Please Leave Pfizer Vaccine"

As Restrictions Ease, People Rush to Get mRNA Vaccines
Cost per Dose Ranges from 240,000 to 450,000 Won

Chinese travelers are embarking on 'vaccine tourism' to Hong Kong to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine developed by the US and Germany.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 12th (local time) that with quarantine-free travel between China and Hong Kong resuming after three years, Chinese travelers are flocking to Hong Kong. SCMP stated, "This week, long lines of Chinese people waiting to receive messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines formed in front of hospitals in Hong Kong," adding, "They said the vaccination price was not an issue."

The Lok Ma Chau checkpoint, a land border crossing between Hong Kong and China, resumed operations on the 8th (local time) after three years.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

A representative from CHK Med Hospital in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, told SCMP, "After the Spring Festival (Chunje, the Chinese Lunar New Year), when people travel to meet their families, vaccine demand will increase," explaining, "We expect 200 to 300 Chinese people to visit our hospital daily for mRNA vaccinations after the Spring Festival."

Meanwhile, Fuxing Pharmaceutical in China announced that since it began accepting reservations for BioNTech vaccine booster shots for Chinese people in Hong Kong on the 6th, it has received inquiries from over 10,000 people. Fuxing Pharmaceutical is currently handling inquiries through the Chinese social media platform WeChat. The reservation fee is 299 yuan (approximately 55,000 KRW), and the vaccine cost ranges from 1,500 Hong Kong dollars (about 240,000 KRW) to 2,800 Hong Kong dollars (about 450,000 KRW) per dose.

Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is supplied through Fuxing Pharmaceutical in Hong Kong, so this vaccine is referred to as the 'Fuxing-BioNTech vaccine.' In China, domestically developed vaccines such as Sinopharm and Sinovac are available, but they are less effective than mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna, leading to distrust among Chinese people. As a result, it appears that Chinese people are traveling all the way to Hong Kong to receive vaccinations.