Vaccine centres to be set up at three hospitals

Vaccination clinics will be set up at three public hospitals next week as part of efforts to boost Hong Kong’s slowing inoculation rate, the government announced on Thursday.

Civil Service Secretary Patrick Nip, who’s in charge of the territory’s Covid vaccination programme, said the centres will be set up at Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and Tuen Mun hospitals.

“The three hospitals are the leading hospital in their relevant clusters, which should be more spacious… If the plan goes okay, we can extend it to other hospitals,” Nip said.

The Hospital Authority’s chief executive, Tony Ko, said priority will be given to people who attend specialist outpatient clinics, as very often they suffer from chronic diseases.

“This is the very group which we believe will benefit most from vaccination,” Ko said.

“As we start the operation, there may be relatives or visitors who are suitable for vaccination and can also benefit from this arrangement. We normally don’t encourage people to come to hospital just for vaccination because of infection control reasons. For those who come to hospital for other reasons, we think that as the operation is up and running, we will be able to offer the service to others as well.”