Coronavirus: Hong Kong health chief insists vaccine pass effective in boosting inoculation rate, says ‘enemy’ is Covid-19, not scheme

Hong Kong’s health minister has doubled down on his support for the city’s vaccine pass, despite mounting criticism it can no longer boost the inoculation rate, saying the “enemy” is Covid-19, not the scheme.

Lo Chung-mau’s comments came a day after the government announced the biggest easing of its coronavirus regime since the pandemic began, including allowing arrivals who test negative free movement and scrapping the use of the “Leave Home Safe” risk-exposure app.

Residents and travellers, however, still need their vaccination records to enter restaurants and certain other premises.

Lo on Wednesday said the latest moves were implemented as hospital and emergency services were not greatly affected even after a rapid rise in case numbers recently.

“The number of people being admitted to hospital increased but days staying in hospital decreased,” he told a radio show, adding society hoped to return to normality before the coming festive season.

He said the effectiveness of the vaccine pass was “beyond doubt” when asked if the scheme could still enhance the inoculation rate, particularly as the figure for the elderly had reached a plateau.

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The health minister warned that the death rate among the elderly who had received no shots of a vaccine was 20 times higher than those who had taken one dose, insisting the pass was still effective in boosting the rate.

“We still have 38 per cent of the elderly who have not received three jabs, so over 100,000 people, and they could become a heavy burden to our healthcare system if they got infected and more death cases would then follow,” he said.

“Our enemy is the virus and the vaccination rate among the elderly is low. Our enemy is not the vaccine or the vaccine pass. I hope we do not get our target and enemy wrong.”

The vaccine pass scheme came into effect in February, with adult residents required to show proof of inoculation upon entering designated premises. Residents can show their vaccination record either electronically or on paper under the new measures.

Lo was also asked if the government was making a U-turn as he had said on Sunday the “Leave Home Safe” app should be kept in place and that it would be useful for any new variants. The government would still supervise the app’s operation and “adjust” it at a suitable juncture, he had said.

Defending his comments, Lo said the app could still act as a tool for showing vaccination records, despite the tracking function no longer being used.

“We are not cancelling the whole ‘Leave Home Safe’ app, we’re just cancelling the scanning [function before entering designated premises],” he said.

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“I want to emphasise that people should not delete the app from their cellphones and we have not taken down the app.”

Lo also said the pandemic was not over, particularly posing a risk to the elderly and young, and urged residents to keep wearing masks and conducting tests if needed.

The government also announced that children aged under three years do not need to undergo nucleic acid tests if they were at places listed in compulsory screening notices.

Lo noted that it was because it was difficult to get the nasal and throat swab samples from young children who were mostly infected by family members.

“We first find out if their family members got infected, we can then consider how to get the samples from their kids,” he said, adding that the number under compulsory testing would also be reduced.

University of Hong Kong microbiologist Dr Ho Pak-leung agreed on the same programme that the scanning function of the app could do little to help as the government had stopped tracking virus sources.

“The cancellation comes late, but it is a welcome measure,” he said.

Ho also said that although the vaccine pass scheme’s effectiveness in boosting the inoculation rate was low, it should be maintained for a period of time as it could encourage those hoping to enter designated places requiring its use to get jabs.