I had the same thought process in Hong Kong in the past few days, when all members of the Hong Kong University Faculty of Medicine, where I'm a researcher/teacher but not a doctor, became eligible for vaccination. I felt that front-line health workers need protection before I do, so I didn't sign up right away. But then the government opened eligibility to many occupations, including all teachers. I saw that the website wasn't swamped, and there were plenty of times available for vaccination, so I figured that I've done my part to allow more at-risk people a chance for vaccination, and I signed up for next week.
Compared to news stories from the US, where shots were hard to find, I'm shocked that vaccines are so readily available in Hong Kong, where COVID-19 has been much less common. There is some vaccine hesitancy here, with people waiting to see if other people here experience side effects after vaccination. It seems that many people don't trust news from other places. Also, statistics are poorly reported and understood. Some people were scared off by news reports that 3 people in Hong Kong died within days of being vaccinated, but news didn't report the number of deaths in a similar number of unvaccinated people as a comparison.
The key paragraph: "In Texas, people who identify as Hispanic or Latino have suffered 43% of all COVID-19 cases, yet have received only 16% of vaccinations. Black Texans represent 19% of all cases but only 7% of all vaccine recipients, while Asian residents represent 9% of all cases but only 1% of vaccine recipients." :'(
I had the same thought process in Hong Kong in the past few days, when all members of the Hong Kong University Faculty of Medicine, where I'm a researcher/teacher but not a doctor, became eligible for vaccination. I felt that front-line health workers need protection before I do, so I didn't sign up right away. But then the government opened eligibility to many occupations, including all teachers. I saw that the website wasn't swamped, and there were plenty of times available for vaccination, so I figured that I've done my part to allow more at-risk people a chance for vaccination, and I signed up for next week.
Compared to news stories from the US, where shots were hard to find, I'm shocked that vaccines are so readily available in Hong Kong, where COVID-19 has been much less common. There is some vaccine hesitancy here, with people waiting to see if other people here experience side effects after vaccination. It seems that many people don't trust news from other places. Also, statistics are poorly reported and understood. Some people were scared off by news reports that 3 people in Hong Kong died within days of being vaccinated, but news didn't report the number of deaths in a similar number of unvaccinated people as a comparison.
Super timely topic. I definitely had these qualms after reading this article about the inequitable vaccine rollout in Houston and Texas as a whole: https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2021/02/15/mapping-inequity-houston-covid-19-vaccine-rollout-pandemic-inequality.
The key paragraph: "In Texas, people who identify as Hispanic or Latino have suffered 43% of all COVID-19 cases, yet have received only 16% of vaccinations. Black Texans represent 19% of all cases but only 7% of all vaccine recipients, while Asian residents represent 9% of all cases but only 1% of vaccine recipients." :'(