Opinion | Path to herd immunity: Hongkongers should get the coronavirus vaccine for the good of society

Name: Hong Kong to relax Covid-19 rules under ‘vaccination bubble’ in bid to boost inoculation rate
Uploaded: 2021-04-18T06:45:04.000Z
Duration: 1 min 23 s
Description: Hong Kong to relax Covid-19 rules under ‘vaccination bubble’ in bid to boost inoculation rate

The government’s proposal to make vaccination a condition for the relaxation of some social distancing measures has sparked criticism of discrimination

All except those with a bona fide medical reason not to be vaccinated should put the well-being of the community first

Reading Time:3 minutes

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A poster promoting the vaccination programme is posted outside a community vaccination centre in Hong Kong on April 5. As of last Thursday, about 967,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been administered in Hong Kong, including some 640,600 people, or 8.5 per cent of the city’s population, who had received their first dose. Photo: Bloomberg

Mike Rowse

Published: 2:45pm, 18 Apr 2021Updated: 2:45pm, 18 Apr 2021

In the summer of 1972, I spent a few weeks camping out on the beach in Darwin in northern Australia. The mini settlement, of some 200 young people, was visited by the local constabulary despite having no law and order issues.

The raid produced a few surprises, according to the official police report. Around 75 of the campers had given the name Robinson Crusoe, and an almost equal number, Man or Girl Friday. Apparently, most of the rest were famous pop stars and there were even a few members of Parliament.

I recalled those halcyon days when the government in Hong Kong introduced its “Leave Home Safe” scheme alongside an option for customers to fill in a piece of paper with their name, address and contact number on entry to restaurants and other premises. I downloaded the app and have used it ever since.

Those who feared to do so on the basis of some unspecified conspiracy theory chose instead to complete the form. But nobody in my observation made any attempt to check the veracity of the information provided. I wonder how many restaurant customers called themselves Ronald McDonald or Mrs Lam of Upper Albert Road.

01:23

Hong Kong to relax Covid-19 rules under ‘vaccination bubble’ in bid to boost inoculation rate

When we have all finished having fun with this, we must confront the serious aspects of the subject, especially as the government outlines its preliminary thinking on the next phase of opening up. When dealing with Covid-19, there is a fundamental difference between the interests of the community as a whole, and the interests of the individual. We have mostly blurred these differences up to now but the hard questions cannot be avoided much longer.

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