Addressing Friday’s press conference about Macau’s novel coronavirus situation, Tai Wa Hou, a clinical director of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, announced that from today walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations are available for all those aged 60 or over at all inoculation facilities in the city – i.e. they do not need to make an appointment in advance for their COVID-19 jabs.
Macau’s COVID-19 vaccinations are currently carried out at 18 facilities, comprising two inoculation facilities at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, eight public health centres, two public health stations, the Macau Forum inoculation facility, the Mong Ha vaccination facility, as well as the private Kiang Wu Hospital, the University Hospital run by the private Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Taipa, and two clinics run by the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (commonly known as Gung Luen) – one of the city’s biggest community associations.
Two types of COVID-19 vaccines are currently available in Macau, China’s Sinopharm inactivated vaccine and Germany’s BioNTech mRNA vaccine. Currently, Sinopharm jabs are administered to those aged 18 or over in Macau, while BioNTech shots are given to those aged 12 or over.
Only three out of Macau’s total of 18 inoculation facilities are used for BioNTech inoculations, namely the public hospital’s blood sample collection room, the Ocean Gardens Health Centre and the Ilha Verde Health Centre.
The government’s free COVID-19 vaccination drive covers local residents, non-resident workers and non-local students enrolled in Macau. However, all other non-locals who hold a permit to stay in Macau, such as the family members of non-resident workers employed in Macau, have to pay 250 patacas per jab – which means that they have to pay 500 patacas to be inoculated against COVID-19 considering that each person requires two jabs.
All potential vaccinees must pass a health assessment by medical workers at the inoculation facility before being given their COVID-19 jabs.
After the launch of the government’s COVID-19 vaccination programme in February, people initially had to make an appointment for their jabs However, since early June walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations have been available for potential vaccinees at all inoculation facilities in the city –provided that places are still available when they arrive at a particular inoculation facility.
Under the new measure which was announced on Friday and starts today, all those aged 60 or over can get their walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations at all inoculation facilities – regardless of whether places are still available.
During Friday’s press conference, Tai said that “from August 2 all senior citizens aged 60 or over can directly go to Macau’s various inoculation facilities for their jabs without the need to make an appointment”.
Walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations remain available for potential vaccinees in all other age groups – but only provided that places are still available when they arrive at an inoculation facility.
In addition, Tai also announced on Friday that starting from today, doctors at the public hospital, health centres and health stations will assess whether their outpatients are suitable to be inoculated against COVID-19 – if they are willing to be assessed. If the patients pass the health assessment, Tai said, they can then simply get their COVID-19 jabs there without the need to make an appointment.
Meanwhile, the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre announced in a statement yesterday that as of 4 p.m. yesterday, 513,239 doses of COVID-19 vaccine had been administered to 285,858 people in Macau, comprising 56,719 who had received their first jab and 229,139 who had received their second jab.
Macau’s COVID-19 vaccination rate stood at 41.9 percent as of 4 p.m. yesterday – i.e. over 40 percent of the population has received at least one jab.
A total of 10 adverse events were reported in the past 24 hours (until 4 p.m. yesterday). The total number of adverse events since the start of the vaccination drive stood at 2,171, or 0.42 percent of the total number of jabs, including seven serious cases.
Tai Wa Hou, one of the three clinical directors of the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, addresses Friday’s press conference about the city’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation. Photo: GCS
