HONG KONG, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government on Thursday gave nod to the emergency use of the inactivated vaccine produced by Sinovac Biotech, two days after a panel of experts recommended the vaccine to the authorities.

Secretary for Food and Health of the HKSAR government Sophia Chan announced the decision in a statement, making Sinovac's vaccine the second allowed to be administered in Hong Kong following the mRNA vaccine developed by Fosun Pharma and BioNTech.

After taking the advice of the panel as a reference, Chan believes that the approval is necessary and in line with public interests, according to the statement.

The first batch of doses will be shipped to Hong Kong soon and the government will launch the rollout as soon as possible after necessary quality inspection.

Hong Kong's advisory panel on COVID-19 vaccines decided Tuesday to recommend Sinovac's vaccine as experts agreed that the use of the vaccine can bring more benefits than risks.