(Xinhua/Lo Ping Fai)

Hong Kong announces compulsory vaccines for key sectors

Hong Kong civil servants, teachers and healthcare workers must get vaccinated against the coronavirus or pay for regular testing, the city’s leader announced Monday, as her administration adopted a push into mandatory inoculations.

The finance hub is one of the few places in the world to have secured ample supplies of the coronavirus vaccine, but public take up has been lacklustre. 

After six months, only 36 percent of the city’s 7.5 million residents are fully vaccinated with two jabs while 48 percent have received one dose.

But infections have remained low as Hong Kong has been all but closed to non-residents for most of the last 18 months and all arrivals must undergo lengthy quarantine in designated hotels.

On Monday, chief executive Carrie Lam announced a new push to raise the city’s vaccination rate by making jabs compulsory for four sectors: civil servants, healthcare workers, care home staff and school teachers.

Vaccination rates vary between those sectors — from 70 percent among civil servants to just 47 percent among teachers. 

“There is much room for improvement,” Lam said.

Those who refuse vaccinations will have to be tested twice a week and pay for the cost out of their own pocketsunless they have a valid medical reason not to be inoculated. 

“If people are refusing to get vaccinated for reasons that are not health related, I don’t think a responsible government should tolerate that,” Lam said. 

The city’s virus measures have kept infections down with around 12,000 cases and 200 deaths. No local infections have been recorded for more than 50 days.