HK people need rewards for jabs: pro-Beijing parties

Extra holidays, spending coupons and lucky draws would help boost Hong Kong’s low coronavirus vaccination rate, pro-establishment parties said on Wednesday.

Members of the New People’s Party and Civil Force urged the government to take action to get more people taking jabs, warning that the SAR needs to build up herd immunity as soon as possible.

Dominic Lee from the New People’s Party said people are reluctant to get Covid-19 jabs because the coronavirus situation seems relatively stable in Hong Kong, and there are also worries about possible side effects.

But he said he thinks people could change their minds if the government ordered another four days of paid leave for workers who get vaccinated.

“Right now if you have work, you work late then you probably can’t make the deadline for taking vaccination during weekdays… By providing holidays for them, I think it’s gonna encourage a lot of people to take the vaccines,” he said.

The parties also suggested the government could give people HK$2,000 gift vouchers if they get a jab, and said a pandemic lottery for vaccinated people could be a good idea.

“We are also proposing a weekly lucky draw… once a week with a jackpot of five million Hong Kong dollars. It should continue for a period of two months,” said Lee.

Government figures show that as of May 18, 1,193,600 people in Hong Kong had received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, and 816,700 had received two doses.