Covid: Hong Kong could end up throwing away unused jabs

The territory currently has around two million Pfizer shots that will be out of date in three months.

Less than 20% of people have had a jab, even though Hong Kong has more than enough doses for the whole population.

The low take-up rate has been blamed on a relatively low number of infections and distrust of the government.

An official from the government's vaccine task force warned that Hong Kongers "only have a three-month window" before the first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines goes out of date.

"They cannot be used after the expiry date and the community vaccination centres for BioNTech will, according to present plans, cease operating after September," Thomas Tsang, a former controller of the Centre for Health Protection, told RTHK radio.

He said it was "just not right" that Hong Kong had a huge stockpile of doses while the rest of the world was "scrambling for vaccines". New doses were not likely to be delivered before the end of the year, he added.

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Hong Kong - population 7.5 million - bought 7.5 million doses each of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and China's Sinovac. Despite this, just 14% of Hong Kongers have received two doses.

Even the territory's medical sector has been slow to take up vaccines, with its Hospital Authority revealing earlier this month that only a third of its staff had been vaccinated.

Some local politicians have suggested Hong Kong could export unused vaccines to countries in need if take-up does not improve.

It comes as public trust in the Hong Kong government has dropped considerably since a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Last year, China introduced a controversial national security law in the territory, criminalising secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces, with a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The seventh video, broadcast by Sedat Peker on Sunday, has had more than 12 million page views.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has called for an inquiry into his claims and for him to be charged with slander.

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Peker, 49, says he is now in Dubai. He served several jail terms in Turkey.

He began posting the videos in early May after a police operation targeted him and his gang. He fled Turkey last year to avoid prosecution, and was previously jailed for fraud and running a criminal group.

'Targets the state'
According to Peker, Mr Soylu offered him protection and tipped him off last year, enabling him to flee Turkey before being arrested.

Mr Soylu, a close associate of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, denied the claim and demanded that Peker return to face justice in Turkey. He said the videos were part of an "international operation".

"Even though the allegations and slanders are completely empty, it targets the state," Mr Soylu said.

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Last week Mr Erdogan said his AK Party had brought peace to Turkey by combating gangs such as Peker's and would "foil this dirty script too", Reuters news agency reported.

On Sunday Turkish police detained Sedat Peker's brother Atilla in Mugla province, on the Aegean coast, after Sedat claimed he had sent Atilla to kill Turkish Cypriot journalist Kutlu Adali in 1996. Adali was shot dead in Cyprus, but his killers were never identified.

According to Sedat Peker, the hit on Adali had been ordered by ex-interior minister Mehmet Agar. He also alleged that Mr Agar was linked to the murder in 1993 of Ugur Mumcu, another prominent journalist.

Mumcu, an investigative journalist for Cumhuriyet daily, was killed by a car bomb.
image captionIn 2016 a park named after Ugur Mumcu was opened in Eskisehir, with wreckage from the car bombing
The Turkish Journalists' Union demanded an investigation into both unsolved murders, in a tweet. "We demand that the suspects be put on trial. We call on prosecutors to do their duty," the union said.

"Are we returning to the 1990s?" Many are asking that question in Turkey now. That was an era of complex links between mafia gangs, police, politicians and business circles.

When the AK Party came to power at the beginning of the 2000s, it claimed that period was over. Mr Erdogan said there was now "a new Turkey" - the old Turkey was history.

But Sedat Peker's claims have challenged that narrative. He was an important figure in the 1990s.

In today's Turkey much of the mainstream media is seen as a mouthpiece of the government. The economy is suffering - hurt even more by the pandemic. So millions have turned to this mafia boss's YouTube channel.

Peker has triggered heated social media debate, reflecting Turkey's sharp political polarisation.

Interior Minister Soylu, one of Peker's main targets, seems to be in a difficult position, with some AK Party colleagues hesitating to support him openly.

Some believe that if Mr Erdogan wants to convince his electoral base, he has to say more - otherwise these allegations may damage his party's support.

2px presentational grey line
The gang boss linked Mr Agar to a shadowy "deep state" - a term often used to describe alleged secret connections between politicians, security forces and organised crime in Turkey. Mr Agar has not yet commented on the allegations. His son Tolga is an MP in Mr Erdogan's ruling AK Party.

In Sunday's video Sedat Peker also alleged that the son of ex-prime minister Binali Yildirim had links to drug traffickers and had gone to Venezuela early this year on drugs business.

Binali Yildirim called the allegation "slander" and "the biggest insult". His son had gone to Venezuela to distribute Covid-19 test kits and protection, he said. Binali Yildirim was PM in 2016-2018 under President Erdogan.

The Turkish news website Ahval says Turkish lawyers have urged an official investigation into Peker's allegations.