Editorial
COVID-19 statistics released by the local government last week reaffirmed that Macau is not only a city of ubiquitous facemask wearers but also a city of too many vaccination waverers.
The Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced last week that over 200 million facemasks have been sold under the government’s facemask purchase scheme since its launch on January 23 last year, i.e. just one day after the Health Bureau (SSM) confirmed Macau’s first novel coronavirus case. Macau’s COVID-19 tally stands at 49 with zero deaths.
Some of our readers in Hong Kong and overseas admitted that they found the 200 million figure mind-boggling, considering Macau’s population of “just” around 680,000. A former local resident who now lives in Europe admitted that when he first read the figure on our website his first thought was “this can’t be right.” A former media colleague in Hong Kong admitted that when reading our headline “Over 200 million ‘government masks’ sold in Macau” his first reaction was: “this must be a typo.”
Well, it’s a real figure – the government has so far bought nearly 300 facemasks per person in Macau.
I am convinced that the government-initiated sale of facemasks for a song to both residents and non-resident workers is one of the main factors that has enabled Macau to remain one of the few “oases” in the global COVID-19 desert. Other factors have been the government’s stringent border entry curbs and its health code and nucleic acid test (NAT) requirements.
I guess that no other government in the world, comparatively speaking, has bought that many facemasks for its population. A wise move indeed.
I hope that the “government mask” scheme will be maintained as long as the perils of the pandemic menace our city. The virtually omnipresent wearing of facemasks is reassuring not just for us residents but also for our vitally important tourists.
Visitors must have confidence in Macau’s anti-COVID-19 measures, thanks to which our city has managed to remain one of the safest tourist destinations during the pandemic. Relatively speaking, the government’s expenditure on facemasks is small change compared with the pecuniary benefits that our recovering tourism, gaming and retail sectors are generating for the economy – and the public coffers – as a whole.
Less reassuring was last week’s admission by the Health Bureau that Macau’s COVID-19 vaccination rate has still “not reached a satisfactory level” since it got off the ground on February 9. According to the bureau, the vaccination rate stands at only around 10 percent. Considering that jabs in Macau are free of charge and residents and non-residents alike can choose between two vaccines – Sinopharm and BioNTech – the figure is not just unsatisfactory, it is sheerly deplorable.
As of 4 p.m. yesterday just 77,597 people had been vaccinated against the “nasty” virus, involving 542 adverse event notifications, or 0.698 percent of the total, only two of which have been classified as serious, according to the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre.
I had my two shots a few weeks ago, without any adverse events. I found the vaccination process very well organised and user-friendly, and I would like to use this opportunity to urge all my fellow residents and non-locals living here to sign up for their jabs. I often hear the argument there was “no need to rush” to get inoculated because “we are safe here”.
Well, we are but don’t we all wish our borders to return to normal entry conditions as soon as possible, without mandatory quarantine and testing, so that we can all start to travel again and foreign nationals can enter Macau again?
For that Macau needs to achieve herd immunity (which scientists believe must reach at least 70 percent of the population) first, and the best way to speed up the immunisation process is to get inoculated. Vaccination hesitancy is futile. With the exception of those afflicted with specific health conditions, all the others should get their free jabs to protect themselves and protect those around them. It’s a matter of common sense and social responsibility.
I wonder whether the government should launch an incentive scheme to raise the vaccination rate. We reported last week that Serbia has decided to pay each citizen who gets a COVID-19 jab before the end of this month 3,000 dinars (246 patacas), in what would be the world’s first cash-for-jabs scheme.
I would prefer non-cash incentives such as, for instance, that all those vaccinated would be given priority when applying for a helicopter ride or the other activities in the government’s popular “Stay, Dine and See Macao” programme.
We in Macau should be grateful for the government’s efficient vaccination rollout. I read in the Bangkok Post last week that travel agencies in Thailand are advertising 10-day “jab tours” to the United States for up to 175,000 baht (44,765 patacas) per person, including a shot of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Apparently, there aren’t enough vaccines in Thailand – even for the wealthy.
One more reason to take pride in Macau.
– Harald Brüning
