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Letters | Push Hong Kong Covid vaccines with lucky draws? Here’s a better idea
- The chance to win big in a lottery may have caused an uptick in vaccine bookings, but the odds are slim. Quarantine-free travel offers a more tangible and winning concession
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Perhaps lucky draws get some people excited, and despite the one-in-1.5 million odds, they truly believe they have a realistic chance to win something (“The HK$113 million in lottery prizes, perks for vaccinated Hongkongers”, June 8). Perhaps that dream is enough to motivate them to finally get jabbed. The recent increase in vaccination bookings certainly shows that it’s having some impact. But most people know lotteries and lucky draws are almost always a disappointment, and I’m sure a large chunk of the populace will remain on the sidelines.
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I’ve written in before about the need to give more tangible benefits to those getting vaccinated to encourage more buy-in, such as letting the vaccinated do away with masks. But there is an even more obvious and more compelling concession. Let us travel.
The world is opening up again, countries all over are allowing vaccinated individuals from abroad to visit without the need to quarantine. It is incomprehensible to me that the Hong Kong government does not make the most obvious and compelling concession to the vaccinated.
Let us go off and enjoy an escape, and let us return and resume life in Hong Kong as normal without the need to rot in quarantine for three weeks.
This summer I’d like to travel. I’ve been fully vaccinated for weeks. But having to go into a three-week quarantine upon my return to Hong Kong makes this completely unpractical.
After 18 months trapped in our masked city, the urge to travel for many is at an all-time high. If you want to motivate most people, give them something they know will improve their life. Lucky draw fantasies are not the solution.
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