Private services offering Chinese travellers access to mRNA vaccines are attracting droves of mainlanders to Hong Kong and Macau seeking a booster shot that their government has refused to approve.
As part of its dismantling of the country’s zero-Covid policy last month, China’s government also lifted quarantine and other border restrictions. It prompted a wave of interest in overseas travel, particularly for the upcoming lunar new year holiday later this month. However, there also appears to be a large contingent chasing the mRNA bivalent vaccines.
Throughout the pandemic the Chinese government has allowed only domestically produced vaccines for its citizens, refusing to approve foreign-made jabs. Health experts and medical studies have raised concerns about the efficacy of China’s vaccines, which use an inactivated virus, compared with the mRNA vaccines available elsewhere. The appetite for the overseas vaccine is difficult to quantify, but a rash of services offering travel packages and self-funded shots in Hong Kong and Macau have sprung up in recent weeks.