Hong Kong fourth wave: HK$5,000 to take the Covid-19 vaccine? Lawmaker floats the idea at Legco health panel meeting

While health secretary says idea could be considered ‘if circumstances allow’, initial focus will be educating residents about vaccine’s benefits

Amid resistance over mainland origins of some of the shots, opposition lawmaker asks Sophia Chan if she and other officials would take the jabs first

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Should Hongkongers get a financial incentive for taking the new Covid-19 vaccines? Some local lawmakers think so. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:03pm, 16 Dec 2020Updated: 2:23pm, 16 Dec 2020

Hong Kong lawmakers have suggested providing a cash incentive of up to HK$5,000 (US$645) to encourage residents to get vaccinated against the coronavirus when the first million shots become available early next year.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor last Friday announced that a deal had been reached to secure 15 million shots of Covid-19 vaccines manufactured on the mainland and in Europe, but faced tough questions as to whether residents would be open to jabs manufactured and distributed by Chinese companies.

On Wednesday, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee continued to face questions from lawmakers on the Legislative Council health services panel about how the government would encourage residents to get vaccinated.

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan addressed concerns from local lawmakers over the city’s pending vaccine programme on Wednesday. Photo: Dickson Lee

“You have already been criticised by residents when you said infected people would be given a subsidy, so will there be a cash reward for getting the shots?” Leung Che-cheung of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) asked Chan.

“If there is nothing to motivate residents to be vaccinated, it will be the end of Hong Kong. So if HK$3,000 is not enough, then give them HK$5,000,” he said.