Coronavirus: Hong Kong vaccine takers could be exempt from certain travel restrictions, social-distancing rules under incentives being considered, city’s leader reveals

Chief Executive Carrie Lam says she has noticed some residents are reluctant to get vaccinated because the Covid-19 shots are new

Authorities have been looking into offering incentives to drive up Covid-19 vaccinations while more work can be done on boosting trust, she says

Reading Time:3 minutes

More residents are now eligible for coronavirus shots after Hong Kong expanded its vaccination campaign. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 4:18pm, 17 Mar 2021Updated: 10:35am, 18 Mar 2021

Hong Kong authorities are looking into driving up Covid-19 vaccinations by offering incentives such as exempting jab recipients from certain travel restrictions and social-distancing measures, the city’s leader has revealed.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also said on Wednesday she had noticed some residents were reluctant to get vaccinated because the Covid-19 shots were new.

“The government understands that it is very important to maintain the people’s confidence in our approved vaccines. That’s why we have established the expert panel [on vaccines] to explain and increase transparency,” she said in a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Council.

Lam was responding to a question from pro-establishment lawmaker Wong Ting-kwong, who asked her to explain whether there was any plan to boost the vaccination rate, following the death of seven chronically ill people after receiving the Sinovac jab. Authorities have not found any direct links between the jabs and the deaths.

“[These incidents] made citizens reluctant to get the shots,” he said. “How can the authorities enhance transparency and further elaborate on any possible links between the inoculation programme and incidence of serious diseases?”

Lam said more work could be done on explaining the relevant figures to boost trust, while authorities had also been looking into incentives to encourage people to get the shots.

“We are now considering offering incentives not only in aspects of cross-border travel, but also room to relax certain distancing measures for those who have been vaccinated,” she said.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x