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Shades Off | Who knew a ‘dim sum ban’ was all it would take to get our elderly vaccinated?
- Hong Kong retirees should have been first in line to get vaccinated but repeated calls fell on deaf ears – until, that is, a restaurant ban was announced
- If only authorities had realised that sooner, Hong Kong would be in a much better place to deal with Omicron, and the mainland border might be open
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How out of touch with citizens are Hong Kong officials? If they had been the slightest bit aware of how important the daily dim sum ritual is for many elderly people, the city’s Covid-19 vaccination rate would, in all likelihood, have attained herd immunity months ago.
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As it is, only now, with a scheme requiring proof of inoculation having been announced, are retirees finally rushing to get jabbed.
Let’s set aside the dozens of officials and legislators who, in the midst of the city’s first Omicron outbreak, decided that attending a party was setting a good example. The mandatory quarantine and public expectation of harsh discipline will serve as a lesson.
Convincing people of the necessity to get vaccinated is the issue here, and Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her ministers have repeatedly been found wanting.
Their message on Covid-19 prevention, based on what increasingly looks like an untenable policy of zero tolerance, has been confusing, lacking in goals and, at times, nonsensical. Why, for instance, is it safer to eat lunch than dinner in a restaurant, as the latest restrictions appear to indicate?
Where vaccination was concerned, those aged 70 and older had been holding out in droves. Perhaps they were worried about weak immune systems or existing health conditions and the side-effects of the jab. They possibly believed that the lack of Covid-19 outbreaks in the community meant there wasn’t a threat. Or maybe they simply considered themselves too tough to get infected.
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