Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines held its first meeting (with photo)
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The Advisory Panel is set up in accordance with the Prevention and Control of Disease (Use of Vaccines) Regulation (Cap. 599K) (the Regulation). The Regulation provides the legal framework for bringing in COVID-19 vaccines which satisfy the criteria of safety, efficacy and quality for emergency use under the present state of public health emergency. The Regulation empowers the Secretary for Food and Health to, based on the objective clinical data of a COVID-19 vaccine, with reference to the expert advice of the Advisory Panel and having regard to the approval given by a regulatory authority in a place outside Hong Kong that performs the function of approving pharmaceutical products (including emergency use), authorise and allow the specified use of the relevant COVID-19 vaccine in Hong Kong under the emergency situation, including vaccination programmes conducted by the Government. Professor Wallace Lau Chak-sing is the convenor of the Advisory Panel and members of the Advisory Panel have rich experience in the areas of public health, infectious diseases, immunology, drug regulation and clinical care.
The Advisory Panel was briefed by the secretariat on the various relevant statutory requirements under the Regulation at the meeting today, including the factors which the Secretary for Food and Health must consider before authorising a COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, and the role of the Advisory Panel. The meeting also discussed the modus operandi of the Advisory Panel, including the guidance for application for authorisation of vaccines and the information that must be submitted by the applicant. The guidance on the information that must be submitted by the applicant will be uploaded to the website of the Food and Health Bureau for reference ( www.fhb.gov.hk/en/our_work/health/rr3.html).
A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said, "The Government thanks the expert advisors for accepting the appointment and participating in the work of the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines in Hong Kong. The Government will strive for the early supply of vaccines to Hong Kong and ensure that the vaccines concerned satisfy the relevant requirements and procedures, as well as obtain emergency use approval in accordance with the Regulation, with a view to ensuring safety, efficacy and quality of vaccines. Our work will be premised on openness and transparency to enable members of the public to access the relevant information on vaccines."
Ends/Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Issued at HKT 22:24
Issued at HKT 22:24
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