Nearly half of unvaccinated Hongkongers say they will not get jabbed, but majority of residents ready to shift to coexisting with Covid-19, survey finds

Of unvaccinated respondents, 27 per cent say they are still undecided as to whether to get jabbed

A similar proportion of unvaccinated respondents say they plan to get their shots, but most are not sure when

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Nearly half of unvaccinated Hongkongers say they will not be getting their jabs, even as most residents say they are ready to transition away from the city’s zero-Covid approach. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 9:32pm, 5 Dec 2021Updated: 8:01pm, 6 Dec 2021

Nearly half of unvaccinated Hongkongers say they will not be getting inoculated against Covid-19, despite a healthy majority of residents expressing their readiness to transition to a strategy of coexisting with the virus, according to a new survey.

Experts said the reluctance indicated by Sunday’s survey results was not a good sign, as vaccination was the best route to being able to live with the coronavirus – an approach increasingly being adopted overseas, even as Hong Kong continues to adhere to Beijing’s zero-Covid approach.

Of the more than 5,600 respondents to the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong’s online survey, conducted from late October to early November, 59 per cent had received at least two jabs, while 39 per cent were not vaccinated at all.

Among the unvaccinated, 47 per cent said they would not be getting jabbed, while 27 per cent were undecided. The remaining 26 per cent of unvaccinated respondents said they planned to get their shots, though most were not sure when.

“As specialists, we know that this [reluctance] is not good … Even before Covid-19, vaccines in general could prevent a lot of potential deaths and serious conditions for other illnesses, so vaccines can help a lot,” infectious disease specialist Dr Wilson Lam said on Sunday.

The survey also asked respondents to rate their level of comfort with a strategy of living with the virus on a 10-point scale, with just over two-thirds giving a rating of seven or higher.