Letters | Hong Kong coronavirus: don’t bin vaccines when others are dying for them

It is criminal to let vaccines expire when the rest of the world has a massive shortage
If the people of Hong Kong are so blinkered they do not want life-saving vaccines, then donate these shots to countries that will use them

Coronavirus Hong Kong

Letters

Published: 7:00am, 31 May 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

Our government has done a sterling job of keeping Covid-19 at bay in Hong Kong. It has been so successful that most people naively think they do not need the protection offered by any of the vaccines available.

Are people in Hong Kong so short-sighted they think Covid-19 will magically disappear soon and therefore there is no need to be vaccinated? Do they not want to travel in the foreseeable future? Do they want Hong Kong to remain a closed shop?

If Hong Kong had suffered, say, 10,000 deaths from the coronavirus, hospitals were full to overflowing, the city had insufficient ventilators and people continued to die, would the people of Hong Kong still refuse to have the vaccinations? I doubt it.

Instead, there would be long queues for the vaccine. We would probably be close to 70 per cent vaccinated by now.

We are now in a situation where we have about 2 million vaccines doses expiring within months. People of Hong Kong, please decide and decide quickly if you want to be vaccinated or not. It is criminal to let these vaccines expire when the rest of the world has a massive shortage of them and people elsewhere do want to get vaccinated.

02:11

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To the government of Hong Kong – if the people of Hong Kong are so blinkered they don’t wish to avail themselves of life-saving vaccines, then please donate these shots to a country and people who will use them. There are many countries that would welcome the gift of 2 million vaccine doses. Don’t let the vaccines expire.

David Passow, Pok Fu Lam

Give prisoners equal access to Covid-19 vaccines

As a criminal defence lawyer regularly visiting clients in Correctional Services Department facilities in Hong Kong, I am concerned that only prisoners who are Hong Kong residents are entitled to avail themselves of a vaccination against Covid-19. People from overseas who are detained or imprisoned here are not given the opportunity to be vaccinated.

The public health considerations for people living in close quarters in confined places should be paramount. As we now know that expiry dated vaccine stocks might be destroyed as they have not been taken up by the public, this could be viewed as a humanitarian outrage.

Would the Department of Health and the Correctional Services Department please urgently review the situation?

Christopher Morley, Admiralty

Three ways to boost Hong Kong’s vaccination rate

Here are my suggestions on how to increase the Covid-19 vaccination rate in Hong Kong. First, make Hong Kong residents who have not had both doses of the vaccine wait until December to gain access to the HK$5,000 (US$650) vouchers promised in the budget.

It would be counterproductive to offer other incentives because many will hold out hoping for a better deal, while some who have already been vaccinated might feel unhappy that they have missed out. It is a no-win going down that road.

Second, renew work permits and visas for all foreign workers, students and visitors only if they are accompanied by a vaccination certificate. Take it, or feel free to leave.

Hong Kong to offer Covid-19 shots to visitors from mainland China, asylum seekers

Third, set a deadline after which vaccinations will no longer be free. Surging waves in many Asian countries – not to mention mutant strains – make this issue more urgent than ever. The soft approach has not worked. It’s time to get tough.

L. Chang, Causeway Bay