Pure Group CEO Colin Grant throws fitness chain’s weight behind Hong Kong government’s Covid-19 vaccination drive
- Hong Kong’s largest fitness chain, Pure, which has 22 locations across the city, has begun a drive to get its employees vaccinated
- Local gyms find themselves on edge as a recent cluster has been linked by the Centre for Health Protection to its industry
Hong Kong’s largest fitness chain has thrown its weight behind the government’s vaccination drive in a bid to help the local industry recover after a number of shutdowns.
Pure Group chief executive officer Colin Grant showed off the Band-Aid patch he got after getting his vaccine, and said he made sure almost 25 per cent of his 1,500, employees, which are spread out over 22 gym and yoga locations across the city, already vaccinated.
“And another 50 per cent are thinking about it and want more information,” said Grant, noting Pure has around 12,000 clients on a daily basis. “So we have to take the initiative and lead, rather than just wait.”
The Hong Kong government is pulling out all the stops to get people vaccinated in the city. On Wednesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said they were considering moves to increase vaccinations, such as exempting those who take the jab from certain travel restrictions and social-distancing rules.
Seven people have died, all of them chronically ill, after they took the China-made Sinovac vaccine. Instances of elderly people and those with pre-existing medical conditions dying after being vaccinated has become commonplace across the world, although heavily reported in the news, which has whipped up fears over vaccinations.