Govt targets jabs for all as 60pc get first shot

Secretary for the Civil Service, Patrick Nip said on Sunday that the government was now aiming to get everyone in the SAR vaccinated, after 60 percent of eligible people received at least one dose.

Speaking on a television programme, Nip said more than four million people had had at least one vaccine dose.

He said 70 percent of people between 20 and 59 had had at least one jab, along with 56 percent of teenagers. However less than 30 percent of people over 70 had been inoculated.

Nip also said that while around 80 percent of staff at elderly care homes had had at least one jab, he was concerned that the vaccination rate for the residents was only 10 percent.

The official, who is in charge of the SAR’s inoculation drive, said experts had at first believed that a 70 percent vaccination rate would provide herd immunity, but the emergence of Covid variants made it more difficult.

However, he said the need to develop a shield to prevent large outbreaks of the virus remained and the government’s goal is to get everyone vaccinated.

Nip added that without a high vaccination rate, it would be difficult to reopen the border with the mainland or drastically relax social distancing.

He said the government would continue to encourage more people to get vaccinated, especially the elderly. He added that the government may consider sending healthcare workers to more shopping malls and housing estates to administer jabs to the elderly and answer their questions over vaccination.

He also said the government will not rule out the possibility of only allowing vaccinated people to enter certain premises in future.