'Holiday In Japan An Incentive For Vaccination'

The government has been urged to reach out to countries such as Japan and South Korea to introduce so-called vaccine passports to make travel easier and allow people to be exempt from quarantine amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

An infectious disease expert, Dr Ho Pak-leung from the University of Hong Kong, believes this will also encourage more people in Hong Kong to get vaccinated, while a representative from the travel industry said it could help the tourism sector which has been hit hard by the pandemic.

Ho said a mutually recognised travel certificate would confirm whether people have been vaccinated against coronavirus, and holders could be exempt from quarantine when travelling to and returning from their holiday destinations.

He told a radio programme that the infection rates of Japan and South Korea are similar to that of the SAR at the moment, and he urged the government to start discussions with those countries.

“Where do Hong Kong people like travelling the most? Japan and South Korea. Many people would like to travel to Taiwan, too. Travellers could be considered to have enough immunity against the coronavirus two weeks after they get two doses of the vaccine,” he said.

The HKU expert said if the government wants to be on the safe side, travellers can be asked to get tested for Covid after they return to Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Travel Industry Council, Jason Wong, agrees that a vaccine passport would give an incentive for people to be inoculated.

“Most Hong Kong people would love to fly again. With those vaccine certificates, or vaccine passports, perhaps it might help to regain the confidence of those countries to welcome our travellers again,” he said.

European officials have announced plans for a certificate which would allow anyone vaccinated against Covid-19 or recently recovered from the virus to travel within the EU.

In an earlier effort to boost air travel, Hong Kong was in talks with Singapore to launch a travel bubble but the plan was postponed last November because of a surge in Covid infections.