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Opinion | Vaccination remains Hong Kong’s passport to normalisation, like it or not
- Crippling restrictions on the city’s social and business life – largely so that the unvaccinated can be protected from Covid-19 infection – cannot go on indefinitely
- Vaccination is still a personal choice. From February 24, the unvaccinated will be asked to bear the consequences of their choice
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Who would have thought two years ago that most of us would be familiar with the Greek alphabet? It seems not too long ago that Delta was the variant of concern in Covid-19 cases.
Globally, Omicron has spread like wildfire, with the US reporting a record single-day number of over 1 million new cases in early January. The highly infectious variant has wreaked havoc around the world, straining health systems and public services.
Countries have responded in various ways – locking down, introducing new social distancing restrictions, tightening entry requirements and rushing to provide boosters. Israel is already offering a fourth vaccine shot to counter Omicron. Out of an abundance of caution, Hong Kong has imposed all four measures, increasingly utilising lockdowns.
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One thing all countries agree on is that vaccinations are safe, effective and life-saving – offering the best protection against Covid-19, short of staying inside a bubble and never coming into contact with anyone else. UN chief António Guterres declared global vaccinations are the “only way out” of the pandemic.
Whether due to fear of Omicron’s outbreak in the community or the recently introduced vaccine passport scheme to be launched on February 24, there has been a surge in first vaccinations of late. Hong Kong has finally achieved the initial herd immunity goal of 70 per cent, though experts have been shifting the number upwards.
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