CE visits Caroline Hill Road Pop-up Community Vaccination Centre (with photos/video)

     The Chief Executive, Mrs Lam, today (March 29) visited the Caroline Hill Road Pop-up Community Vaccination Centre (PCVC) which started operation the same day to thank the organisations and personnel for their involvement in such various stages as the design, construction and operation of the centre.

     The Caroline Hill PCVC is located in Causeway Bay. The venue is provided free of charge by Hysan Development and Chinachem Group. The centre is operated by the School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in a non-profit-making mode to provide people aged 12 or above with the BioNTech vaccination service.

     Accompanied by the Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Patrick Nip, Mrs Lam received a briefing on the first-day operation of the PCVC from the Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of Hysan Development, Mr Ricky Lui, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Chinachem Group, Mr Donald Choi, the Chairman of the Council of the PolyU, Dr Lam Tai-fai, and the President of the PolyU, Professor Teng Jin-guang. She also chatted with the healthcare workers and staff members of the centre, including the fresh graduates from the School of Nursing of the PolyU, who assisted in administrating vaccination for members of the public under the supervision of experienced registered nurses. Mrs Lam was deeply encouraged that the various stakeholders had played their respective roles, as part of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's anti-epidemic team, to doubly strive to boost the vaccination rate of the city.

     "From the fifth wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong, it is clearly shown that vaccination is highly efficacious in preventing or reducing hospitalisation and the chance of developing severe complications after infection. It is the most effective means of safeguarding the healthcare system of Hong Kong and the essential factor for us to ride out the epidemic. With the latest target vaccination rates set on March 21, the Government will continue to pursue a multi-pronged approach in striving to boost the vaccination rates of four key groups to 90 per cent by the end of April, namely the second-dose vaccination rate of people aged 12 or above as well as the first-dose vaccination rates of children aged 3 to 11, elderly people in residential care homes and elderly people aged 70 or above," said Mrs Lam.

     "May I once again appeal to those members of the public who still have yet to be vaccinated, especially children and the elderly, to act now and receive vaccination. Those who have received vaccination should receive the second and third doses in a timely manner to protect themselves and others and build a stronger protective shield for Hong Kong."