Hong Kong’s aggressive new drive to provide coronavirus vaccine to elderly care home residents, who remain vulnerable but not vaccinated
- Revised guidelines say any elderly person who has received flu jabs can have Covid-19 vaccine
- Only 5 per cent of care home residents vaccinated, far behind rates in England, Europe, US
Hong Kong has fallen well behind other similarly developed economies in vaccinating vulnerable old people in care homes, a Post check has found.
Although identified by the government as a key priority group, too few have received their jabs and officials are preparing to take a more aggressive approach to vaccinating them.
That compares miserably against 95.9 per cent in aged care homes in England, 76.5 per cent in long-term care facilities in the European Union and more than 80 per cent in the United States, according to checks by the Post.
Health professionals and academics who spoke to the Post blamed overly cautious decisions by doctors, the city’s weak primary health care system and confusing early messages on vaccine safety, as well as political factors.
They also questioned if the city would be able to vaccinate enough of its vulnerable residents to prevent key institutions from being overrun by cases of the more infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus and a potential fifth wave of infections.