More Hong Kong government missteps in the battle against the Wuhan coronavirus

If only things were that simple...

 

In recent days, people have been looking at Israel and Chile -- two countries with higher vaccine rates than much of the rest of the world -- and questioning whether vaccinating against the Wuhan coronavirus is enough to get us out of the pandemic.  For some folks, it's obvious: yes, vaccines help but only if they are ones with high efficacy.  

 

Israel has opted for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine (which has a reported efficacy rate of 95 percent) and it looks to have paid dividends.  Specifically, there has been found to be a 94 percent drop in symptomatic infections and a 92 percent drop in serious cases of the disease among those vaccinated with it.  On the other hand, Chile went for the Sinovac vaccine and despite more than 33 percent of the Latin American country's population having had one or both jabs, it is currently encountering problems quelling a second coronavirus wave.        

 

At a medical conference in Chengdu this past weekend, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention director, Gao Fu, acknowledged that current Chinese vaccines (including Sinovac) don’t have very high protection rates.  Back in January, a Brazilian study showed that Sinovac had just a 50.4% efficacy rate.  Worse, it was reported earlier this month that: "A recent study of the effectiveness of Chile’s vaccination programme found that two weeks after receiving a second jab [of the Sinovac vaccine], it is 56% effective, but with one jab effectiveness drops to just 3%"!   

 

As it so happens, Hong Kongers have the option of getting either the Pfizer/BioNTech or Sinovac vaccine.  Based on their efficacy rates, it should be a no-brainer which one people should choose.  And, if one factors out political considerations, it's hard to understand why the government has even bought and is administering Sinovac vaccines to people here.

But the truth of the matter is that how the Hong Kong government is choosing to fight the Wuhan coronavirus seems to be informed more by politics than medical concerns alone.  And today, Carrie Lam has reaffirmed that with her revelation that further relaxing of social distancing regulations affecting such as restaurants and bars are predicated on the use of the government's Leave Home app (which many people -- including IT people I know -- see as spyware and consequently shun) even more so than vaccinations.  

 

With Hong Kong recording just two new coronavirus cases today and its fourth coronavirus wave looking to have finally come to an end, people aren't exactly rushing to get vaccinated -- and this continued lack of incentives from the government is not going to encourage the vaccination drive.  Indeed, one could make a case for these latest government announcements making them less likely to want to do what the government wants, including going and getting vaccinated!

 

And what of the people without smartphones or any mobile phones (who are unable to download the government's app even if they wanted to)?  Furthermore, what of the people not (yet) eligible to get vaccinated (even if they wanted to) -- who currently includes everyone under the age of 30 -- as well as folks who are immunocompromised and otherwise have health reasons for not getting the vaccine?  

 

I guess Carrie Lam and co didn't think of them as they don't fall into those categories.  Put another way: she and her government don't seem to consider these people who are unlike her to be worth considering or caring about.  And then she -- who really seems to go from blunder to blunder in the fight against the Wuhan coronavirus, as with so much else - wonders why people don't consider her a trustworthy leader of Hong Kong!  Or maybe she -- who has taken off her mask (literally as well as figuratively) in recent weeks -- really doesn't give a damn anymore.