Ban The Unjabbed From Public Venues, Urges Expert

A medical expert on Thursday called for a ban on unvaccinated people entering crowded public places, only to be shot down by one of his peers who said such a move would never work.

The government says fewer people are now booking jabs, and while around 60 percent of those 12 and over have received at least one shot, the picture is far less rosy when it comes to the elderly, with under a quarter of the over 70s vaccinated.

On a radio programme on Thursday, infectious diseases expert Ho Pak-leung from the University of Hong Kong said the authorities should look at only letting vaccinated people enter some public venues, to try to persuade more people to get inoculated.

"You can see different countries have started imposing restrictions at crowded public venues, mainly by banning those who have not received two jabs from entering those places," Ho said.

But respiratory diseases specialist Leung Chi-chiu said such a move would not work because some people simply have no confidence in the vaccines.

"I think for Hong Kong the problem is we did not manage those few untoward events at the start of the vaccination programme that caused a confidence crisis, and that has not been corrected up to this moment," Leung told RTHK.

He said authorities should think about how they can convince people, especially the elderly, that the Sinovac and BioNTech jabs Hong Kong uses "are probably the safest in the world".