Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor receives the second dose of Sinovac vaccine at Central Government Offices on March 22, 2021. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong people should take their second coronavirus vaccine shots on time, otherwise the efficacy could be lost, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said after receiving her second shot on Monday morning.
Lam, along with high-ranking government officials, Executive Councilors and lawmakers, received the second dose of mainland-made Sinovac vaccine on Monday.
Hong Kong's CE said it was too early at this stage to discuss a "vaccine passport" as vaccination prevalence remained moderate
As of Sunday, around 354,400 residents had received the first vaccine shot since the vaccination program began on Feb 26, including 233,700 people inoculated with the Sinovac vaccine and 120,700 who chose the BioNTech vaccine.
On Sunday, 4,100 people made bookings for Sinovac doses, 9,400 for BioNTech doses.
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“I’m feeling good now. But I will closely monitor how I feel as experts spoke about possible reactions triggered by the second shot,” Lam said.
People don't need to worry too much about sporadic incidents related to side effects, Lam said, condemning rumormorgering, especialy from some medical workers who tried to discredit Sinovac products.
Lam said it was too early at this stage to discuss a “vaccine passport” for travel between the city and the Chinese mainland, because the vaccination prevalence rate in both places remained moderate.
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“Transparency and full disclosure will help to boost confidence. The Hong Kong government will spare no effort in raising the transparency and providing as much data as possible to the people of Hong Kong,” Lam said.