Vaccine Hesitancy Drags HK Down

About 17 percent of Hongkongers have gotten at least one jab

 

It is shocking to discover less than 30 percent of full time staff at the Hospital Authority have gotten the vaccine for the coronavirus.

The authority's chairman, Henry Fan said on RTHK that around 24,000 staff members had been vaccinated, 70 percent of whom got the BioNTech jab. He said this was in spite of the authority offering half days off and shuttle buses to vaccination centres.

HA admitted less than one-third staff vaccinated

Tony Ko, the authority's chief executive, also said on the same program that while Hong Kong's case numbers are very low, he warned the vaccines had a limited shelf life.

"Of course we know some of the vaccines -- in particular in Hong Kong, the BioNTech -- they've got a limited time when the vaccines are more effective. So I think it is very important that both the public, and of course our colleagues as well, receive the vaccination as soon as possible."

According to government figures, only 17 percent of the city's population have at least one dose of the vaccine. 

One of my younger relatives received his second jab today and is so far feeling well. He managed to persuade his colleagues to get it, after they saw that he wasn't dead yet. Seriously? 

While his colleagues are half joking, getting vaccinated is not to be taken lightly.

Today Hong Kong recorded its first local infection with an unknown source in seven days, while Taiwan is seeing an outbreak of some 180 cases. Singapore's flareup threatens the upcoming travel bubble with Hong Kong set for May 26, while India's situation is out of control and absolutely tragic.

Getting the jab means avoiding tests, quarantine

Isn't that news enough to urge people to get vaccinated?

Unfortunately not.

The argument of getting at least 70 percent of the population immunized to create "herd immunity" is not of interest to them either -- they would rather be the 30 percent not getting the jab, except that they make up over 80 percent of the population.

Excuses abound with hardly any rational reasoning, that the vaccine was developed too quickly, some have serious side effects after getting their shots, or they weren't planning to travel anyway.

People younger than me claim they need to do a health check beforehand is overboard, and it doesn't help that some doctors aren't willing to give definitive advice to their patients to get the jab in case they have an adverse reaction to the jab.

Giving logical explanations doesn't move these vaccine skeptics either, that top infectious disease experts like Yuen Kwok-yung, David Hui Shu-cheong and Ben Cowling have taken the BioNTech jab and recommended it, or that the more people get the vaccine then more restrictions can be lifted, or that getting vaccinated allows them to travel again.

Even the prospect of travel doesn't sway people

The non-vaccinated group is completely unmoved. 

An acquaintance thinks it all boils down to selfishness, that while people were willing to don masks from the beginning of the pandemic, it wasn't to protect the rest of the community, but rather to protect themselves.

Even the argument that more vaccinations will help Hong Kong's economy get better isn't of any interest to them which is strange when people are obsessed about stock and property prices. An even stronger argument of being vaccinated avoids a longer period in the quarantine camp barely moves them to get the jab.

The only good thing is that the number of vaccinations can only go up, though at a much slower rate than we hoped.