Call for shorter grace period for third jab

Vaccination rate – especially among elderly – still low, health experts warn

Hong Kong authorities should shorten the grace period residents have to get their third Covid-19 jab as required by the vaccine pass to encourage faster uptake, health experts have said.

Official figures found that close to 50 per cent of the population has been vaccinated with a third dose, but the figure for residents aged 70 or above is only 31.3 per cent and the rate for those 80 or above is just 18.2 per cent.

“If we are results-oriented, we should have 70 per cent of elderly vaccinated with third doses so as to further relax social-distancing measures before July 1,” University of Hong Kong microbiologist Ho Pak-leung said yesterday.

“This is achievable if we adjust the grace period.”

Health authorities previously brought forward the implementation of the third stage of the vaccine pass by one month to May 31, meaning all individuals except those with exemptions will need to have received their third jab to enter government venues and other types of premises such as restaurants and shopping centres.

Residents were given a sixmonth grace period, shortened from nine months, to get the third dose, meaning that from May 31 onwards, if they had received the second dose less than six months ago, they would still be allowed to enter premises.

Ho told a radio programme the grace period should be further cut from six to three months.

He said further boosting the vaccination rate was vital to protect the city’s elderly residents if new coronavirus variants leaked into the community. At least 330,000 residents aged 60 or above are still unvaccinated.

But government pandemic adviser Professor David Hui Shu-cheong suggested that the grace period should be cut to four months instead. “As the currently recommended time interval between the second and third dose is three months, if the grace period is only three months, people will have to immediately book right after three months of the second dose and not everyone is able to do so,” he said.

Hui explained that as the government system did not allow people who had taken two shots in less than three months to book, people should be given a month to make reservations for their next jab.

According to the data from Israel, the antibodies produced by shots could only last for three to four months, so getting the third shot after four months would not affect the vaccine’s effectiveness, he said.

“Most Hongkongers may not get vaccinated unless the danger is near,” he said. “Many of them might not have got vaccinated if the fifth wave did not happen, so we have to rely on reducing the grace period to encourage vaccination.”

Hui said he expected there would be “a small-scale sixth wave” in July, adding that based on Singapore’s experience, at least 70 per cent of residents needed to be triple-vaccinated to keep the city safe.

Chief executive-elect John Lee Ka-chiu previously said that to create conditions for reopening the border with the mainland the vaccination rate for two doses should be 90 per cent.

About 85 per cent of Hong Kong residents have been inoculated with two doses, as have 66 per cent of people aged 70 or above and 53.9 per cent of those aged 80 or above.

Health authorities confirmed 280 new coronavirus cases yesterday, including 32 imported infections, while three more fatalities were linked to the virus.

The city’s Covid-19 tally stood at 1,207,371 cases, with 9,355 related deaths.

Three more infections were linked to a cluster connected to a restaurant in Yuen Long, bringing the number of cases to 23. The cluster was first reported on May 7 after four customers who had visited the Peony Golden Court restaurant on May 1 tested positive.

Meanwhile, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung told a Legislative Council meeting that police had arrested 19 people for various offences including spreading false information during the city’s rampaging fifth wave of Covid-19 cases.

The suspects were allegedly involved in inciting others to violate anti-epidemic rules, inciting others to damage government isolation facilities or disseminating fake news about the pandemic.

On March 15, police arrested two men on suspicion of using social media platforms to call for Covid-19 patients to spread the virus, with one suspect ignoring isolation rules and dining out while infected.

Acting home affairs minister Jack Chan Jick-chi said a study exploring how the city could combat fake news or disinformation online by examining overseas experience would be completed by June as scheduled.