'Vaccination Record Could Help Travel To Resume'

The Secretary for Civil Service, Patrick Nip, who's in charge of the Covid vaccination programme, said on Saturday that digital vaccination records that the government plans to provide would pave the way for cross-border travel to resume in future.

But he said that while people were understandably concerned whether travel restrictions could be relaxed, there's still no immediate answer to this.

Nip said the SAR government will continue to discuss the matter with the mainland authorities.

"Both of us are very concerned about our respective epidemic situations, and the number one priority is to get our epidemic under control," he said.

"So we will continue our engagement with the mainland authorities and... of course just like everyone [else], we want to see cross-boundary or cross-border travel [to resume] as soon as possible, but we have to do our job well first."

Nip added that the five community centres providing the Sinovac jab will not be operating at full capacity when they open on Friday, but the inoculation quotas will be increased over time.

"We want to get the workflow smooth, [let] the healthcare workers engaged in the inoculation get used to it, and also the public know about the procedures, including each and every step, the documents they need to bring, the points to note after vaccination, et cetera," he said.

The minister said by mid-March, up to 1,500 private clinics will also be administering the Sinovac vaccine, after the authorities brief the private doctors about the programme next week.

Those given priority for the shots can make appointments with the clinics directly, instead of doing it through the government's system online, he said.