OpinionTime for all of Hong Kong to pitch in and encourage Covid-19 vaccinations

Name: Protests grow to cancel Tokyo Olympics as Covid-19 outbreak worsens in Japan
Uploaded: 2021-05-20T22:45:14.000Z
Duration: 3 min 1 s
Description: Protests grow to cancel Tokyo Olympics as Covid-19 outbreak worsens in Japan

Hongkongers have not rushed out to get vaccinated despite having the luxury of vaccine choice and an efficient sign-up process

Businesses and universities in the city and abroad are becoming more proactive in encouraging vaccinations, in an effort to return to normality

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People queue up outside a community vaccination centre administering the BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine in Hong Kong on April 26. With only 16 per cent of the population vaccinated, Hong Kong has a long way to go to reach the 70 per cent required for herd immunity. Photo: Bloomberg

Bernard Chan

Published: 6:45am, 21 May 2021Updated: 6:45am, 21 May 2021

Fear of the unknown is a natural human emotion. Fearing the new Covid-19 vaccines was an understandable reaction on the part of Hong Kong citizens in December 2020 when they were first approved. But after 1.5 billion doses of vaccines have been administered worldwide, what are the “wait and see” people waiting for?

There is ample proof of real-world experience and studies of the efficacy of vaccines in preventing coronavirus infections and severe outcomes in the United States, Britain and Israel. Deaths in the US have fallen to their lowest rate since April 2020, and the test positivity rate is at its lowest point since the pandemic began in the US.

However, there seems to be a growing divide between Western and Eastern countries in their populations’ acceptance of coronavirus vaccines and the vaccination rate. Israel has inoculated 63 per cent of its population with at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, the UK, 54 per cent and the US, 47 per cent.

By comparison, China has inoculated 23 per cent of its population, India 10 per cent and Taiwan less than 1 per cent. Japan has vaccinated only 4 per cent of its people with the Olympics just two months away.

Some argue that Asian countries are victims of our own success. In minimising coronavirus infections and deaths, we have not had to suffer through widespread tragedy, so many feel there is no sense of urgency to get immunised against the virus. However, Asia’s success has come at great cost, including restrictive lockdowns, social distancing measures, mandatory quarantine requirements and, in many cases, border closures.

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Protests grow to cancel Tokyo Olympics as Covid-19 outbreak worsens in Japan

For Hong Kong, the high cost can be measured in financial and personal terms. Hong Kong has experienced its longest economic recession of two years, with our economy shrinking 6.1 per cent last year. In personal terms, we have been unable to eat out with groups of family or friends and restricted at various times from going to bars and gyms. With graduations cancelled and weddings limited in size, marking the most important times of our lives has been a challenge.