Northern District Community Service Consultative Council member Chang Kam Pui urged the government to better promote the COVID-19 vaccine in places such as parks, sitting-out areas and buildings.
Chang made the remarks yesterday during a regular meeting of the council at the Government Service Centre in Areia Preta.
Chang noted that currently only about 16 percent of the population has been vaccinated. He stressed that if all residents aged at least 16 would get vaccinated against COVID-19 then 85 percent of the population would be inoculated against the disease, which would achieve herd immunity. “How can Macau achieve the goal without promoting the shots properly?”, he asked.
According to Chang, the northern district has 260,000 residents which account for 38.5 percent of the local population. Therefore, Chang suggested using the northern district as a test point to set up public announcement boards and posters in parks, sitting-out areas and buildings to promote awareness of the need to get inoculated against COVID-19.
He said that the public announcement boards should spell out the advantages and disadvantages of having the COVID-19 vaccine, and also detail the sequela of suffering from the novel coronavirus. He underlined that properly educating residents and teaching them the correct information would help residents understand the importance of achieving herd immunity. He also said that only by achieving herd immunity could the local economy fully recover.
Lower e-wallet transaction fee
Meanwhile, another Northern District Community Service Consultative Council member, Wu Xueqi, said that even though the government’s e-consumption benefit plan could temporarily spur economic growth, there were still minor things that could be adjusted and optimised. Wu pointed out that, for example, the transaction fee for using the e-payment platform is 12-17 percent of the total amount. She noted that compared to Zhuhai, which charges just 0.3-0.5 percent, Macau’s transaction fee it is a lot higher. She said that the government’s new round of its e-consumption benefit plan aimed to encourage the public to use the e-wallet yet the high transaction fee could have a negative impact on local small and-medium enterprises (SMEs) as it increases their expenses.
Northern District Community Service Consultative Council members attend yesterday’s open-door regular meeting at the Government Service Centre in Areia Preta. Photo Courtesy of TDM
