Hong Kong on Wednesday temporarily suspended Covid-19 vaccinations using two batches of the treatment developed by Pfizer and BioNTech citing defective packaging, but the government said manufacturers indicated they had no reason to believe safety was at risk, and the move was merely a preventative measure.

The government said it had received notice from Fosun Pharma Industrial (Hong Kong), the distributor of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the financial hub and in Macau, that packaging defects had been detected in a vaccine batch - numbered 210102 - related to the closure of bottles...