The Wuhan pneumonia vaccine ordered by the Hong Kong government will arrive in Hong Kong later this month, but an opinion survey in Hong Kong shows that only about 31% of Hong Kong people surveyed said they would participate in the vaccination program, the proportion is lower than the 33% of Hong Kong people who refused to be vaccinated, while the largest number of people who have not yet decided, 36%. This means that the vaccination program will not be able to achieve the herd immunity effect until 70% of the population is vaccinated.
The Hong Kong Society of Hospital Pharmacists and the Hong Kong Medical and Nursing Union interviewed 838 people last month and found that more than 80% of those unwilling to be vaccinated were worried about the side effects and safety of the vaccine, and that the vaccine was launched too hastily; nearly half of the respondents said they would rather wear a mask than be vaccinated.
Among those who are willing to receive the vaccine, BioNTech vaccine is the first choice, while the rest of the respondents are willing to receive the vaccine from Kexin and AstraZeneca. Among them, Kexing has still not released sufficient data, and there are more voices in Hong Kong asking the Hong Kong government to reconsider acquiring China’s national vaccine, while Chief Executive Carrie Lam has revealed that she has asked the central government in Beijing for assistance in the middle of last month to distribute the new crown vaccine developed or produced in China to Hong Kong.
The president of the Society of Pharmacists, Cui Junming, said at a press conference yesterday that the rate of Hong Kong people willing to be vaccinated is lower than in the United States and other regions, and that vaccination of 70% of the population is the “minimum threshold” to reach mass immunization, suggesting that the Hong Kong government should strengthen publicity to clear the public’s doubts; but he does not agree that money should be used as an incentive for vaccination.
Dr. Lam Wai-sun, an infectious disease specialist who also attended the press conference, added that even if the vaccination rate is less than 70%, the more people are vaccinated, the more the number of confirmed cases and serious cases can be reduced, and it is hoped that the willingness of the public to be vaccinated will increase after the vaccination program is launched.
A poll released by the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Medicine last week also showed that the desire of Hong Kong people to receive vaccinations has decreased. A survey conducted by the medical school in January found that only 45.9 percent of the public intended to receive the vaccine, a sharp drop of 18 percentage points from the same survey conducted in November last year.
In addition, in response to the European vaccine production is not fast enough for Hong Kong, the EU has once wanted to restrict exports, Chui Junming said that the Hong Kong government should contact China’s national vaccine to improve the stability of vaccine supply, but the premise is that the national drug to provide clinical trials of safety and effectiveness data. State Drug announced at the end of last year that its vaccine had an efficiency rate of 79% in the third phase of clinical testing, but no full report has been released.
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