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Coronavirus vaccine
OpinionLetters

Letters | Coronavirus vaccines: what Hong Kong universities can do to boost drive

  • Some universities have several thousands of employees and students. They can certainly offer leave days as incentives for staff to get the jab
  • It is quite sad to see that so many people are only reacting to financial incentives

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Tourists visit the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on May 14. Americans are resuming normal life, as a majority of the population gets vaccinated. Photo: AFP
Letters
Over the past few weeks, there have been calls by government officials including health chief Sophia Chan and civil service head Patrick Nip, as well as Chief Executive Carrie Lam, for more people in Hong Kong to get vaccinated. Many local universities also require their students and staff who live on campus to get the jab, which can help them protect themselves, their families and the university community.
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However, it seems that these universities have yet to offer much incentive to receive vaccination. On May 28, two property developers announced a lottery prize of an urban flat in an attempt to boost the vaccination rate. Right after this announcement, it was reported that the number of bookings for inoculation with either of the two vaccines available surged. Some organisations are also offering cash or leave days for employees to get vaccinated, with civil servants now reported to be getting a day off per jab.

In a way, it is quite sad to see that so many people are only reacting to financial incentives, despite the fact that mass vaccination to reach herd immunity is the key to ending the pandemic.

Many also have a wait-and-see attitude, which I find very strange. You cannot help but wonder what it is they are waiting to see.

The UK and the US are among the first countries to have got a majority of their people vaccinated since last November. They will have nearly 40 to 50 per cent of their populations fully vaccinated by June and are planning to reopen shops, businesses and so on, so that people can resume normal life in the very near future. The “wait-and-see” people should now see that these countries are getting ready to resume normal life while we are still struggling with a sluggish economy.

02:13

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