No pressure on elderly to be arranged for vaccination

There won't be any pressure for elderly in care enters to be arranged to get the jabs as the vaccination is necessary for their safety and health, said Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen.

Social Welfare Department had launched a new vaccination scheme in 10 elderly homes, administering the Sinovac vaccine to elderly whose health conditions are fit for the jabs and do not oppose getting the vaccine starting Wednesday.

If families of the elders disagree with administering the jabs, they must sign a statement saying that they understand the risk of being infected and of death.

After attending the National Day celebration, Nip defended the scheme and pointed out that the vaccination rate in elderly homes recorded less than 10 percent. He continued that clinical evidence showed that the risk of having adverse side effects or even being killed by the virus is high if elderly were infected with Covid-19.

He added if the elderly have received influenza vaccine before they are also fit for the Covid vaccine.

Nip stressed that authorities will contact the elderly homes first and invite doctors to perform medical examinations for the elderly. The department will then contact the families of elderly who are fit for the jabs. The doses will be administered to the elders if families indicated no objection.

Yet the scheme drew doubts from many sectors. Chairman of Hong Kong Patients' Voices Alex Lam Chi-yau challenged that a citizen with basic legal knowledge would know that a person showing no objection is different from a person agreeing to something.

Respiratory expert Leung Tsz-chiu on the other hand slammed the government “would do anything” in order to boost the vaccination rate. He suggested classifying the instruction guidelines first with clear defination of what makes a elder fit for vaccination.
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