Kwan is turning 71 this week, but she is spending her birthday at home alone. Terrified of catching Covid, she has not eaten out in two years. Now without a vaccine pass, she cannot set foot in restaurants and supermarkets and relies on food pantries in the district or friendly neighbours for groceries.
Among thousands of elderly in Hong Kong that have refused to be vaccinated, Kwan fears that next, she will be barred from public transportation as well.
But, despite her isolation, she is steadfast in her refusal to get a coronavirus vaccine “I am in the best position to assess my own condition. I should be allowed to make decisions for my own health,” said Kwan, who is frustrated by the expanding vaccine mandate.
In recent weeks Covid-19 has torn across Hong Kong, overwhelming the health system and morgues – with images of the dead lying next to the six in hospital wards causing outrage. The wave is now subsiding, but at its peak the city’s weekly death rate hit 263 per million people; at the height of the UK’s January 2021 wave, this figure reached 128.
The number of new daily cases have doubled in four days this past week, surging above 25,000 on Thursday. Shanghai – where an extended lockdown has led to food shortage and mounting frustrations – is at the epicentre of the wave. The city of 25 million is struggling to stamp out the outbreak, which has started to ravage elderly care facilities.
Speaking last month, Chinese health officials described Hong Kong’s tragedy as “a profound lesson” and highlighted the need to vaccinate the most vulnerable. “We must not regret when it is too late,” said Wang Hesheng, deputy director of the National Health Commission.
But that appears a tricky task. Unlike the US and the UK, where hesitancy is more prevalent in younger demographics, the elderly and immunosuppressed – the groups most at risk and usually prioritised in vaccination drives – have shunned vaccines in Hong Kong and China.
Source: telegraph
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