Professor Wallace Lau Chak-sing, also the Chief of Service at Queen Mary Hospital, said various Hospital Authority clinics will help handle the thousands of cases going to Vaccine Allergy Safety Clinic at Grantham Hospital.

In support of the government's Covid-19 Vaccination Programme, HA set up the clinic earlier to provide an assessment service and vaccination advice for referral cases with allergies history.

Media reported that a patient was told that the appointment would be scheduled in 2029 – meaning a wait of over seven years.

Lau apologized to the public in the radio program, saying the clinic has received more than 8,000 letters since March. There is still a backlog of more than 4,000 cases, including over 1,000 cases of people developing allergies after the first dose.

He said that hundreds of letters are being referred to the clinic daily, whereas the staff has to read them all one by one and send out specialists to understand the situation.

He explained that the appointment date in 2029 was not final.

Hospital Authority staff will refer the cases to the other six clusters, and it is believed that the patients concerned will soon be able to seek consultation at an outpatient clinic, said Lau.