People Still Eager To Get Covid Vaccine: Patrick Nip

The government said on Thursday that people are still keen to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, even though official figures show the daily number of inoculations dropped by over 1,000.

The decline came as news broke that a man died two days after getting a jab made by mainland firm Sinovac; an expert panel has concluded that the death of the 63-year-old man on Sunday was not caused by the vaccination.

Government figures show 11,700 people were vaccinated on Wednesday, compared to 13,000 on Tuesday.

Speaking on an RTHK programme, the official in charge of the vaccination programme, civil service secretary Patrick Nip, said more than 50,000 citizens have been inoculated since the rollout was launched last week.

He added that 250,000 people have made appointments for Sinovac vaccines so far, while 96,000 have signed up for jabs made by German firm BioNTech.

He said people are still enthusiastic about the getting vaccinated.

“Some citizens are worried, but some think they can go ahead with the vaccination,” he said. “We should take a science-based approach when dealing with vaccination. And we have a lot of experts here in Hong Kong who can give us very good advice.”

A doctor in charge of a vaccination centre in Jordan, Samuel Kwok, said 95 percent of people who made bookings showed up on Wednesday. But he said more people made enquiries about their suitability to receive the vaccination after reports about the man’s death.

“They wanted to know whether their health condition is suitable. There are a lot more enquiries. Our healthcare workers answered the questions and gave advice,” he said.

Meanwhile, an expert tasked with investigating the death of the 63-year-old man said it would take one to two weeks before a full autopsy report is available.

Professor Ivan Hung said he could not rule out indirect links between the death and the vaccination, adding that the expert panel would meet again and discuss the incident.