Hong Kong Suspends Order Of AstraZeneca Vaccines Amid Side Effects Fears

On Friday Hong Kong's health chief Sophia Chan said the city has asked AstraZeneca not to deliver as planned later this year.

Hong Kong on Friday confirmed it has requested AstraZeneca suspend delivery of its Covid-19 vaccine amid fears of severe side effects and concerns over its efficacy against new variants of the coronavirus. Europe's medicines regulator said this week the AstraZeneca vaccine could cause very rare blood clots in some recipients, prompting a cascade of countries to pull the plug on giving it to people under a certain age. Britain sought Thursday to quell fears over the jab, saying the potential side effects were extremely rare -- and the risk of falling seriously sick from Covid-19 was far greater. On Friday Hong Kong's health chief Sophia Chan said the city has asked AstraZeneca not to deliver as planned later this year.