Hong Kong could introduce a local “vaccine passport” as soon as a larger number of citizens have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, said the Health Minister on Saturday.
Showing vaccination records to access certain venues is not new to Hongkongers. Citizens already use the “Leave Home Safe” contact-tracing app when attending selected restaurants or karaoke lounges.
“If we are to put in place this requirement, I think the most important thing is for the operators of these premises to be cooperative and also for people who haven’t been vaccinated for no reason to get vaccinated,” she said.
The idea was first proposed by renowned microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung aiming at increasing immunization rates.
Since the vaccination program began in February, 69.3 percent of the population has only received a single shot of a two-dose vaccine.
Yuen told Dot Dot News that the local vaccination rate must reach at least 99 percent before restoring travel with the mainland and other nations in order to prevent the health system from collapsing.
He went on to say that only 85 percent of Singaporeans were completely vaccinated when their country reopened in early September. Since then, he said, the country has experienced a series of outbreaks and a rapid spread of the virus.
“Around 10 deaths were recorded per day, a proof that such vaccination rate was not enough in the view of mutated viruses,” Yuen said.
Backing Yuen’s proposal, Calvin Ho, associate professor of law from the University of Hong Kong and a member of the World Health Organization (WHO)’s ethics and governance working group, said that “it’s very unlikely that Covid-19 will disappear the way SARS did in 2003.”
According to the professor, the zero-case approach is not sustainable in the longer term. “The pandemic in 2003-04 disappeared all of a sudden, but it looks unlikely or even impossible for it to happen this time round,” Ho said.
He added that “the objective is to live with the virus.” and that Hong Kong should start moving in that direction.