Hong Kong residents have swamped clinics to get vaccinated against COVID-19 ahead of the expected reopening of the city’s border with mainland China – a move some fear will bring a surge of infections to the financial hub.

City government centres providing shots produced by BioNTech have in recent days been mostly booked solid, some until February.

The rush is in contrast with just a few weeks ago, when anyone seeking a vaccine could stroll into an almost empty facility.

Hong Kong’s government announced plans to reopen its border and resume restriction-free travel for the first time in more than three years after Beijing abandoned its strict “zero-COVID” policy and announced it was easing its travel restrictions from Sunday.

There was a sluggish vaccine uptake in Hong Kong when the shots first became available in 2001, particularly among the elderly. Rates have picked up in the past year.

More than 83 per cent of Hong Kong residents have now received three doses of either the BioNTech shot or China’s Sinovac vaccine, according to government data.

The number of people getting a fourth shot jumped more than 100 per cent this week from a week earlier.

It’s not just a fear of new infections after the border reopens but worries that mainland visitors will snap up mRNA vaccines, which can give better protection against COVID but are not available for Chinese residents on the mainland.

Many mainlanders have been asking on social media about how to get an mRNA vaccine in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s government has said non-residents will have to pay for vaccines at private clinics.