Letters | Coronavirus in Hong Kong: doctors must lend their voices to the city’s vaccine push

As of yesterday, Hong Kong had administered over 1.95 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, with a seven-day moving average of 30,484. Roughly 80 days since the programme started, over 1.16 million (17.8 per cent) people have been given at least one dose and over 787,000 (12 per cent of those eligible) have completed both.

Two places with a population on the same scale as Hong Kong are Singapore and Israel. Singapore started its vaccination programme in late December 2020, and a third of its population has been given at least one dose by now and 22.8 per cent completed both. Israel rolled out its vaccination programme on December 19, 2020, and 60 per cent of its population has received at least one dose by now and 56.3 per cent completed both. We are not even at half the speed of Israel.

Real-life data from Israel, Brazil and other places has confirmed the effectiveness of both vaccines available in Hong Kong. The United States, using mainly mRNA vaccines, has seen the incidence of Covid-19 reduced by nearly 90 per cent and the United Kingdom is now around one-thirtieth of its peak. Gibraltar has achieved universal vaccination, and its seven-day moving incidence is zero. Vaccine safety has never been a big issue, except with the adenovirus-based versions.

The European Commission on May 3, 2021 proposed that its “member states lift restrictions on non-essential travel for vaccinated persons travelling to the EU” because it reflected “the latest scientific advice … that vaccination considerably helps to break the transmission chain”.

All over the world, the vaccine is seen as an essential tool to combat the pandemic – except in Hong Kong. A slow take-up of the vaccine is understandable when our media is reporting time and again how people die after Covid-19 vaccination. “Die after” does not of course equate to causality, but the hint is strong.