Health Bureau (SSM) Director Lei Chin Ion said on Tuesday that the Macao government aimed to purchase 1.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines covering the city’s whole population – two shots for each person. Lei said that each dose would cost the government around MOP 300, but the price would differ among different vaccine suppliers and be subject to fluctuation.
Lei also pointed out that the COVAX Facility – the global vaccine allocation plan jointly run by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Gavi vaccine alliance – will give priority to Covid-19 high-risk countries and regions and poor countries in vaccine procurement, adding that therefore Covid-19 vaccines are expected to be supplied to Macao at a later time under the initiative.
Lei also said that the government expected to spend MOP 420 million (US$52.7 million) on purchasing Covid-19 vaccines for all Macao residents. He said that the local government had contacted six vaccine producers from the mainland and abroad for the purchase of the 1.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
There has been no Covid-19 community outbreak in Macao, with no confirmed local cases for 219 consecutive days and no imported cases for 130 consecutive days, according to the Health Bureau. Macao’s 46 Covid-19 patients have all been cured and discharged from hospital.
Meanwhile, Lei also said that his bureau expected the long-delayed Cotai hospital project– officially known as Islands Healthcare Complex – to finally come into service in 2023.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
