By The SUN
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| Nip says HK could hit 70% vaccination rate by end of September |
Hong Kong is likely to meet the goal of inoculating 70% of
its population by the end of September, according to Secretary for the Civil
Service Patrick Nip, who heads the city’s vaccination program.
Nip made his forecast in an interview on Commercial Radio earlier today, Jul 18, when the inoculation rate among those who received their first jab was at 2.79 million, or 41% of the total number of people eligible for the vaccine.
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The number climbed to 2.817 million people, or about 41.42% of the eligible population as of 8pm today. Another 2 million had already completed two doses of a vaccine.
The combined tally shows a total of 4.82 million doses of vaccines had been administered to people in Hong Kong so far. If all those who had the first jab would complete their vaccination on schedule that would mean a total cover of about 56% of the eligible population within the next month.
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A recent surge in daily bookings for the vaccines has raised officials’ hope that Hong Kong would attain the so-called herd immunity from Covid-19, if at least 70% of eligible people take the vaccine.
Today’s turnout of 55,296 kept the target firmly in place.
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But in a press conference after the interview, Nip fended off a question on whether it was still advisable to close community vaccination centers by the end of August, considering that the target rate would not have been met yet by then.
“Our objective is to achieve the 70 percent of our population getting vaccinated as early as possible. We would closely monitor the booking and also the vaccination situation in the next two weeks. And then we would decide the way forward whether any adjustments need to be made to the vaccination program,” Nip said.
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Nip also disclosed a plan to allow senior citizens to get vaccinated without making a prior booking, as part of a strategy to get more of them to take the jab.
He noted that less than 25% of elderly people aged over 65, who are at a higher risk of getting infected, have been vaccinated so far.
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| Only 25% of those aged 65 and above have been vaccinated, says Nip |
“Recently, the response is enthusiastic and some vaccination centers are often fully booked. But there are still some available slots. We’re studying if we can reserve some quota for the elderly people,” he said.
“It has to be well-planned. If we reserve two or more quota, it will reduce the number of time slots open for bookings. I don’t know how many people will come in the end.”
He also rejected a suggestion that Hong Kong drop Sinovac as a source of vaccines for local people, considering that some countries do not recognize it when giving quarantine concessions to inbound travelers.
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A recent survey conducted by the University of Hong Kong also showed that Sinovac vaccines produce only a tenth of the number of antibodies generated by the BioNTech jabs.
Nip said both vaccines have been approved for emergency use by Hong Kong’s health authority and by the World Health Organization.
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“So it’s very clear that both vaccines are safe, with the efficacy and also with the quality,” he said.
Nip also said that as the economy recovers and cross-border activities increase, inoculation must be mandatory.
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“If we have to open the borders with the mainland, we have to maintain the infection rate at zero and prevent imported cases,” he said.
“The vaccination rate in some industries is quite good. The
vaccination rate of frontline civil servants is more than 70%,” Nip said,
adding the government is planning to expand the vaccination scope of frontline
civil servants so more can be inoculated.
This afternoon, a shipment of around 860,000 doses of BioNTech vaccine arrived in Hong Kong from its manufacturer, Baxter, in Germany.
Staff carried out stringent checking and inspection of the vaccine in accordance with established procedures soon after the shipment arrived.
The government said it will put the vaccine in ultra-low temperature freezers to ensure proper storage as specified by the drug manufacturer.
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