Editorial | The public is right to question exemptions for Hong Kong vaccine pass rule
- Mainland China, Macau and Taiwan may have low rates of infection but visitors from those places are not entirely immune from catching or spreading the coronavirus
There are good reasons why the vaccine pass is vigorously enforced in Hong Kong. Following its introduction in February, the measure has proved to be a useful tool to boost the city’s rate of inoculation.
The efficacy of the two vaccines used – BioNTech and Sinovac – in reducing deaths and serious illnesses arising from coronavirus infections has also been well recognised. That is also why the ongoing outbreak has not caused as much havoc as the height of the fifth wave in March.
But questions have been raised following the revelation that unvaccinated travellers from mainland China, Macau and Taiwan are given temporary passes to access listed premises. The exemption for inoculation as a prerequisite to enter restaurants and other high-risk places is different from that for other visitors from other parts of the world, who are permitted to enter the city only when they have received at least two shots.
It is also different from the policy of requiring all local residents to have three jabs to enter these premises.
When asked whether the exemption would create loopholes, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the arrangements had been implemented “for a long time”. The health risk in mainland China, he said, was the lowest in the world.