As Hong Kong battles its worst Covid-19 outbreak, pleas for the city’s large proportion of unvaccinated elderly residents to urgently get their jabs have come from across society – from the chief executive, doctors, social workers and even their own family members. Now, the Singapore prime minister’s wife Ho Ching, a prolific commentator on Covid-19 issues in the Southeast Asian city state, has also weighed in. Forty per cent of Hong Kong residents aged 70 and above – about 397,000 people – remain unvaccinated, even though jabs became available to them as far back as last February. Why Hong Kong’s elderly residents are reluctant to take Covid-19 vaccines Vaccination hesitancy among seniors has dragged on Hong Kong’s aim of having at least 90 per cent of its eligible population inoculated from the coronavirus. Some 85.9 per cent of all Hong Kong residents eligible for vaccinations have received at least one shot of a Sinovac or BioNTech vaccine. Writing on her widely-followed Facebook page on Monday, Ho said she hoped “friends and families in HK would help persuade their old folks and their vulnerable to be vaccinated as soon as possible”. “They should especially put aside their distrust or mistrust of the government, their memories of their flight from China, or any other reason for distrust of authorities,” Ho wrote. “Don’t wait till it’s too late, and don’t wait for regrets when it is too late.” Ho said the advice also applied to the city’s younger people, and urged them to set aside their political views and focus on persuading older residents to get vaccinated. “Again, they should separate whatever disagreements they may have against their local government, against the Chinese government, and do this for the love of their friends and family members,” she said. “The fight against Covid has to be by the people for the people,” said Ho, who stepped down in October as the chief executive of state investor Temasek Holdings after serving in that role for 17 years. “Vaccinate for ourselves, for our loved ones. We are just lucky that vaccines are available for much less than the cost of a Covid PCR test,” Ho wrote in her 340-word post. “This has enabled most governments to offer vaccines for free. So take advantage of the vaccines, and go get protected as soon as possible, tak mmm tak ?” she said, using the Cantonese slang that translates to “can or cannot”. When Ho Ching posts on Facebook, Singapore pays attention. Is that a problem? Ho, affectionately known as “Madam” within the country’s political class, has a prolific Facebook persona, even though she keeps a low profile in real life. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020, many of her posts have centred around policies surrounding the health crisis. On her page, responses to her posts – usually written in a folksy, stream-of-consciousness style – are largely positive, though she has a fair share of critics. Some have criticised her for weighing in on government policies, saying her private views on her page could be misconstrued as the official position of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong ’s government. Ho has largely ignored these criticisms and continued to offer her own thoughts on some of the more controversial aspects of the Singapore government’s Covid-19 policy. In September last year, she sparred with Calvin Cheng – a pro-establishment commentator – on whether it was still necessary for authorities to share details on unlinked and local coronavirus cases as the country began transitioning to a “living with Covid” model. Ho’s remarks on Monday came amid continued interest in Singapore and elsewhere in the region over the situation in Hong Kong . As of Sunday, 305 people have died of Covid-19 in the city. Most of the city’s over 52,000 cases are infections that have occurred during the ongoing fifth wave of the epidemic.