Vaccine Bubble Fails To Burst HKers' Jab Hesitancy
"); jQuery("#212 h3").html("

"); });
2021-05-09 HKT 16:02
A survey has found that an overwhelming majority of respondents are not motivated to undergo inoculation against Covid-19, despite the government’s “vaccine bubble” initiatives that offer relaxed social distancing rules for those who’ve received the jabs.
Under the “vaccine bubble” scheme, karaoke bars, saunas, and party rooms are allowed to reopen as long as all staff and customers have had at least the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, while restaurants can also set up specific areas to seat more customers per table.
The Patients and Healthcare Professionals Rights Association interviewed 718 unvaccinated adults in April, and 88 percent said they would not get the jab simply to take advantage of the relaxed rules.
More than three quarters of respondents also said they were worried that they might not be physically fit to get vaccinated even though they did not have any chronic conditions.
Dr Jeffrey Pong, a convenor of the group, said the survey shows that many people “worried too much” about the possible side effects of vaccination.
“When we look into the real reported events list, most of them are actually quite minor, including chest discomfort, headaches, slight fever and so on,” he said.
He said officials should step up education and inform the public as quickly as possible of the findings of any investigations into deaths following vaccination.
Among the respondents, 35 percent said they had not yet decided whether to receive the vaccine, but Pong warned against a wait-and-see approach, saying the pandemic could worsen quickly if a mutant variant spreads in the community.
“The virus is actually getting more and more deceiving, they are more cunning. So in a way when the virus mutated, they are able to infect more people…there might be people with very very minimal symptoms walking around,” he said.
The group said that while introducing vaccine bubble measures is a good start, the government could also send medical teams to administer vaccines to staff at large corporations, open more vaccination centres at public and private clinics, and extend their opening hours.
StartmeupHK Festival And Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025 Merge For 10th Anniversary Milestone
Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) announced on 10 March 2025 that both of its flagship events, Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025 an... Read more
Ant AI-Powered Health Insurance Processes 7.25M Claims In 2024, 55%YoY Increase
In 2024, Ant Insurance, the online insurance brokerage platform of Ant Group, processed 7.25 million health claims, mar... Read more
Ping An Talent Uses AI For Job Matching, But Can Technology Make Recruitment Fairer?
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. has launched its 2025 Spring Campus Recruitment, offering over 2,000 p... Read more
HKEX Partners With CMU OmniClear To Boost Post-Trade Securities Infrastructure
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) announced on 4 March 2025 that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding ... Read more
PAObank Secures Insurance Agency Licence, Partners With Ping An And FWD Hong Kong
PAO Bank Limited (PAObank) has received its Insurance Agency Licence from the Insurance Authority and signed strategic ... Read more
IFAST Launches Self-Service Accounts For Hong Kong Family Offices
Fintech solutions provider iFAST HK launches self-service accounts in Hong Kong, catering to the growing demand for ind... Read more