By Jose Alvares
Everything has been thrown at getting people vaccinated – information campaigns (as ignorance is, unfortunately, a prevalent feature in today’s society, which is surprising given the easy access to information), media blitz (though influencers had a rather limited effect in convincing their followers in this regard), shaming people (which has been on prominent display in social media, especially in the West) or even by giving prizes (some worth millions).
In Macau, the public was even given a choice between a China-developed vaccine and a Western option. Yet, there are those that remain sceptical about taking the shot.
Taking into account the respect for freedom as a principle, forcing people to take the vaccine, which is, by all means, an intrusion in people’s bodies, is not on the menu. Yet, it is said that your freedom (to swing your fist – as the supposed original saying goes) ends where my nose begins. Meaning, people who opt not to get vaccinated have the right to do so, but they need to stop setting the rest of us back.
In the developed world (and yes, unvaccinated people are spoiling how privileged we are compared to others to whom vaccine access is close to a fantasy), vaccinated people are nearing, if not over already, a majority of people – it is time we set the rules.
It is fair to say that we are flying blind when it comes to dealing with the Covid-19 – even the health and science community cannot agree on the most essential questions. However, we have to rely on the somewhat comprehensive evidence we have been able to gather thus far and analyze the situation as is – in that respect, one thing is clear, for a multitude of reasons, vaccination is the only way out.
While it is true that the SARS (i.e. the severe acute respiratory syndrome) was not eradicated by vaccines, rather by containing the spread of the virus, the respective virus was not as contagious as the Covid-19 and it was not as widespread (evidenced by the fact that it was not labelled as a global pandemic).
Moreover, we have failed as a global community to devise a unique common strategy, given that each country (not to mention jurisdictions within the same country – as in the US) has been adopting different strategies when it comes to dealing with the pandemic (from herd immunity to zero tolerance for any local transmissions – let us not count North Korea’s policy of outright locking itself from the rest world).
And we can’t fully blame a toothless WHO, which has been making great strides in other fronts but showed itself unequipped to deal with outbreaks of this magnitude.
In the specific case of Macau, which has been successful with its zero-case virus strategy, we recently learned that all it takes is one case to risk jeopardizing all the hard achieved records. And can we really blame a person, who was attending a dance competition on the mainland (having adhered to all the applicable rules, which allowed her and the school to travel to the location in question) for just wanting to live (and I do not mean the semblance of existence we had for the past months).
And how sustainable will these restrictive travel measures be when other developed regions start (as they have been doing already) opening up – in a place dependent on tourism, I reckon our chances are not ideal. Our casino operators have the financial capacity to withstand the monumental blow to income, but the SMEs are longing for the rebound of tourism that this month again will take a significant hit, further delaying the recovery that we were anticipating.
Similarly to the option pursued by Macau, in Australia all it took to break the zero local transmissions run was supposedly a limo driver picking up the aircrew from an international flight for the virus to spread. We can accordingly conclude that it is unsustainable as we live in an extensively interconnected world (and will continue hopefully as such) – the idea of erecting walls died along with the unsuccessful reelection bid of the previous US president.
Unvaccinated people try to justify the attitude of those getting vaccinated on our supposed desire to travel – that’s rich, but nothing more than a pitiful attempt at reducing our overarching objective of wanting to contribute to the resolution of the problem and so as to try to justify their own selfish attitude towards the matter. That is not to say that we do not miss travel, but that goes for everyone – while the marvels of technology allow us to never be truly apart from one another, there is no replacement for the warmth of a human hug.
It was clear early in the pandemic that the only way out of this highly infectious virus is through vaccination that can help contain the spread (as we can hardly become immune to the disease).
And while we cannot get all the population vaccinated, we just need to ensure that our health infrastructure is not at risk of being overwhelmed and thus can treat a reduced number of Covid-19 patients just like any other normal disease. We are still far from the supposed target of 70-80% need of vaccinated people for that to happen.
Vaccines objectively work – the US CDC concluded that vaccines allow for a 25-fold reduction in hospitalization or death, meaning for every person that would contract the virus, excluding the asymptomatics, only 1 in 25 would end up in the hospital or worse.
Also, the vaccine itself reduces 8-fold the risk of even getting Covid-19. In fact, the biggest risk for Macau is overwhelming the health sector, as we do not have sufficient infrastructure to handle massive hospitalizations and thus reducing the risk of such extreme cases is essential.
Many individuals that took the vaccine are healthy and within age groups that statistically would not have strong reactions to being infected. Likewise, many of us had our doubts in relation to the vaccine, as it was developed in such a hasty fashion (moreover, and in my particular case, I carry from childhood disdain from needles, still flinching to this day when seeing any scene with such injection in a movie).
Yet, all of us that took the vaccine share one thing – a sense of responsibility to work towards a solution. Further, it is a way to show respect to those in the medical and scientific community that risked their lives to face this pandemic.
If vaccinated people made that calculated risk, then it is time for people that decide not to get the vaccine to own up to their option as we have exhausted all other means to convince them – we must talk about positive discrimination. Such measures would not be unprecedented – there are a number of vaccines, such as tetanus, polio or varicella, just to name a few, required for students to attend schools in many places.
In this regard, France, the land of the free, implemented a rather controversial mandate whereby access to bars and restaurants is restricted to those vaccinated. Such a move is commendable if anything for showing the courage of the respective government if yet extreme and infeasible in our region.
The measure, evidently more stick than carrot, already prompted a scurry of people enrolling for the vaccine. Differently, in the US, federal employees that have not been vaccinated will be required to submit to frequent testing while the pandemic is still ongoing, which was the balanced stroke between allowing people to opt-out of vaccines and preventing the spread (that otherwise would be reduced if they were vaccinated).
Here in Macau, we have been rather shy when it comes to such measures. Thus far, I have only seen one such instance – a discount of 20 per cent that was applied to the entrance fee of an event.
Honestly, I was overwhelmed with satisfaction, even more so when noticing the displeasure of unvaccinated individuals. But it was one insignificant example, that I nonetheless deem amply justified on the basis that individuals that voluntarily submitted to vaccination have done their “sacrifice” for the solution.
We have noticed that monetary rewards hard work, so we have to look at easing restrictions in day-to-day life for vaccinated people that would create a strong incentive towards vaccination. The problem is that we already spoiled the unvaccinated by giving them everything that was likewise given to vaccinated people – but where there is a will, there is a way.
For instance, recently the validity of the tests for purposes of passing through immigration was reduced – when such validity is again increased, perhaps it would be worth considering just allowing such extended validity to vaccinated people (as stated, data shows that they are a lot less likely to transmit the virus).
Another idea concerns the resumption of travel with the Hong Kong SAR, which has been mulled for a while now and must be made in coordination with the mainland’s central and regional governments so as to not jeopardise the agreements reached and that allow relatively free circulation with Macau.
It seems more than opportune as the Hong Kong government has been undertaking strenuous efforts to control the epidemic and has been resisting strong voices in the community therein to ease restrictions to international travel – they deserve some respite. Given the low number of cases (even lower than Macau and mainland China), it seems more than opportune. But given there are still some cases, to reduce the risk, such travelling could eventually only be allowed to those that are vaccinated.
Moreover, the recent incident of local cases in Macau has proved the government’s strong capacity to track and isolate detected cases, which could allow some overture in the future, provided vaccination goes up. Even the city-wide test, which was not without its understandable flaws (which I personally witnessed as I was one of the victims of the malfunctioning incident referred to by the Chief Executive), demonstrated the ability of the region to respond effectively to a potential situation of local transmission.
As such, and based on the reduced risk of vaccinated people transmitting the virus, for instance, the quarantine requirements for vaccinated people returning to Macau could be reduced from the current painstaking 21+7 days (one of the harshest in the world).
There are many other ideas that could be devised, and I would end by appealing to the creative minds of those in a position to implement them as it seems that health and life are not sufficient to convince people of the benefits of being vaccinated. It is sad to see how successful handling of the pandemic by the government instilled in people a false sense of safety when compared to the reality elsewhere – in Portugal, where the pandemic hit hard, there over 60 per cent of people were fully vaccinated, despite having obtained the vaccine lots much later than in Macau.
It is a pity that such evidence is revealing a lack of vision and a certain level of the selfishness of those that did not take the vaccine.
