Both Hong Kong and Macao on Wednesday temporarily suspended use of the BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine after the Chinese partner of the German drugmaker sounded an alert about a packaging problem.

The Hong Kong government announced an immediate halt to the vaccinations at 10 a.m., more than an hour later than its counterpart in the sister city, with the result that some residents who arrived early for their appointments were turned away.

Macao was the first to react to the news from the Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group. The government, citing the Fosun Pharma notice, announced at 8:40 a.m. that a batch of vaccines developed by BioNTech in Germany had been found with defective caps in some of the vials and must be suspended at once.

The batch of mRNA Comirnaty vaccines carried the lot number 210102 and would expire in June 2021.

There was so far no reason to believe that product safety risks were involved, according to the government statement, quoting an investigation launched by BioNTech and Fosun Pharma. For the sake of caution, Macao would stop the use of this batch until the investigation had ended. Officials told people who had made bookings not to show up.

In Hong Kong, the government announcement contained similar content, and added that on top of the 210102 vaccines, the batch with the lot number 210104 would be sealed over safety concerns.

Authorities said that people who had booked shots for Wednesday or thereafter did not need to go to the community vaccination centers, until further notice.

Some residents were caught off guard by the sudden news. The arrangement was belated and chaotic, the residents said, as they were informed by staffers about the suspension only upon arrival at the community vaccination centers on Wednesday morning.

A man surnamed Mak, who had a vaccination booking at 10 a.m. at Tsuen King Circuit Sports Center in Tsuen Wan in the New Territories, said that the staffer on duty knew nothing about the situation.

“The staff member was informed by the supervisor about the suspension and they advised me to cancel the booking,” he said.

Mak said that he would not have gone to the center if the government had publicized the news earlier. “It’s a big issue. The government should have informed us in advance. It was not very hard to do so by sending a message.”

Another man, surnamed Yip, said that he went to the medicine faculty of the Chinese University of Hong Kong at 8 a.m. for the jab, but was told about the suspension. At that time, the government had not released any announcement yet.

The vaccine was co-produced by Fosun Pharma and BioNTech, and delivered to Hong Kong and Macao last month.

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