Letters | Covid vaccine drive: Hong Kong minorities unfairly targeted once again

Name: Hong Kong domestic helpers slam ‘discriminatory’ Covid-19 rules
Uploaded: 2021-05-25T22:30:12.000Z
Duration: 3 min 8 s
Description: Hong Kong domestic helpers slam ‘discriminatory’ Covid-19 rules

Survey on ‘willingness’ to be vaccinated is a slap in the face when it is the majority population that has been refusing the jab, as media reports make clear

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Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong queue up in Victoria Park for a second Covid-19 screening ordered by the government, an order denounced by many commentators as discriminatory. Photo: Nora Tam

Letters

Published: 6:30am, 26 May 2021Updated: 6:30am, 26 May 2021

This is regarding the government-supported survey on ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, organised by the University of Hong Kong, “to understand better their willingness and difficulties to receive the Covid-19 vaccines”.

Apart from being downright disrespectful, it appears to be needlessly targeting ethnic minorities for no scientific reason. This will only serve to reinforce an irresponsible narrative and continue to poorly position Hong Kong’s already ignored “ethnic minority” community.

Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen has recently stated that he believes the proportion of vaccinated civil servants should be higher than the city’s overall inoculation rate. He said civil servants had to take the initiative to get Covid-19 jabs because they served the public.

Meanwhile, the Hong Kong media is frequently replete with reports on the dismally low vaccination rate in Hong Kong. One does not need to be a rocket scientist to see that this is owing to the hesitancy and scepticism of Hong Kong’s majority population, or “ethnic majorities” – if you like.

The relevant officials need to extend the courtesy of clarifying why precious resources and taxpayers’ money are being wasted to profile and target a specific community of Hongkongers.

03:08

Hong Kong domestic helpers slam ‘discriminatory’ Covid-19 rules

The questionnaire lists the “ethnic minorities” of Filipino, Indian, Indonesian, Nepalese, Pakistani, Thai and “others”. It’s intriguing why the list isn’t British, American, Canadian, French, Australian and “others”. One cannot help but be fascinated by this unique definition of “ethnic minorities”. Can the concerned authorities explain which nationalities and socio-economic demographics are considered as belonging to the category of “ethnic minorities”?