Govt Should Pay People To Get Covid Jabs: Lawmaker

The government was on Wednesday urged to provide cash incentives to encourage Hongkongers to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

At Legco's health services panel, DAB lawmaker Leung Che-cheung said people should be awarded HK$5,000 if they receive the jabs.

"The government is being cricitised for giving 5,000 dollars to some people who are infected. Those who are infected are awarded. What about those who get vaccinated voluntarily?" he asked.

"If you don't have any initiative to motivate people to receive the jabs, it may end up like your universal community testing programme in September, when only one million or so people joined. It will be the end of Hong Kong," he said.

The lawmaker representing the insurance sector, Chan Kin-por, agreed that people should be rewarded with money or spending vouchers, or be exempted from some social distancing rules if they are inoculated.

Chan also urged the government to designate students and teachers as priority groups in the vaccination programme, so that face-to-face lessons can resume as soon as possible.

However, Civic Passion lawmaker Cheng Chung-tai raised concern over the safety of the vaccines. He said all top officials should receive the jabs first and let the public wait for at least two months to observe if there are any side effects.

In response, Health Secretary Sophia Chan said the government will carry out promotion and educational work and dispel any rumours surrounding the safety of the vaccines.

Meanwhile, government adviser and respiratory medicine expert David Hui said he expects the Phase III clinical trial results of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine to be out next Wednesday.

The government announced last week that it'd secured 7.5 million doses from the mainland firm as part of its procurement programme.

"Only when they have good safety data with efficacy will the vaccine be introduced in Hong Kong in January," Hui said.

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