Coronavirus: lukewarm response at Hong Kong vaccination centres as walk-in scheme to boost flagging jabs rate opens

Staff member at one centre reports about 10 walk-ins by noon, while some vaccine recipients say they got traditional bookings just a day in advance

‘Seven-day moving average’ for jabs has fallen from peak of about 66,000 to just 30,000; city records one imported infection on Wednesday

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Hong Kong residents leave the community vaccination centre in Sun Yat Sen Park. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 1:26pm, 22 Sep 2021Updated: 11:15pm, 22 Sep 2021

Hong Kong’s Covid-19 vaccination centres marked a lukewarm response on Wednesday with only a few first-time jab recipients showing up for a newly launched walk-in service aimed at boosting the city’s lagging inoculation rate.

At about noon, the facility at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park Sports Centre was close to empty. A staff member told a Post reporter that a few hundred bookings were scheduled but only about 10 people had so far asked for a same-day ticket.

Ricky Chau, 56, who works as a decorator, said he already had a slot reserved for Sunday, but changed his mind and showed up on Wednesday instead.

“I am free today, so I decided to walk in to take my second jab,” he said, adding he had not changed his appointment in advance or planned ahead for the same-day ticket. “From my previous experience, the slots are pretty empty, so I believed the staff would let me in when I [showed up].”

Logistics worker Yu Chi-shing, 58, praised the same-day process.

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