Bilingual Editorial: Careful handling of vaccination in nursing homes
雙語社評:院舍接種審慎處理 避免加劇疫苗猶豫
文章日期:2021年4月9日

雙語社評齊齊聽

[英語 (足本收聽)] Presented by Dr Frieda Kwok, Lecturer of Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

[普通話 (足本收聽)] Presented by Dr Nina Jiao, Lecturer of School of Professional Education and Executive Development, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The government is promoting the COVID-19 vaccination scheme. In addition to increasing the number of prioritised vaccination groups, ten larger nursing homes will also be given priority in the vaccination programme later. In order to prevent the mood of ''vaccine hesitancy'' from growing, the government must be extra cautious in handling the vaccination of elderly people in nursing homes, as there have been many outbreaks in Hong Kong's nursing homes. Governments in different places have urgently approved COVID-19 vaccines on the assumption that the benefits outweigh the risks. However, the severity of the pandemic varies greatly from region to region, so does the public's chance of being infected.

[ENG audio 1]

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the number of new cases confirmed in a single day is a figure that many people pay close attention to every day, and now there is another figure that the public is quite concerned about: the number of abnormal cases after vaccination. Since the start of the vaccination programme in Hong Kong, there have been three deaths after vaccination, and another vaccinated person was hospitalised in critical condition due to cardiovascular disease. Some people will have some side effects after receiving the vaccine, but from a scientific point of view, death after vaccination is not the same as death by vaccination, and there is no necessary causal relationship between the two events. There are tens of thousands of inoculations in a short period of time, so it is not surprising that some people coincidentally die after vaccination if we talk about the probability.

[ENG audio 2]

The suitability of the Sinovac vaccine for elderly people over 60 years of age has been the subject of much debate recently. The government stresses that the Advisory Panel on COVID-19 Vaccines has weighed up the risks and benefits and concluded that vaccination was feasible. In the four waves of the pandemic in Hong Kong, there have been repeated outbreaks in nursing homes, and many people have died of the disease. The administration's promotion of vaccination in nursing homes is justified in terms of pandemic prevention and control and the evaluation of risks and benefits, but the specific operational arrangements must be handled with extreme caution. If the vaccination programme is not handled properly, it may further push up the ''vaccination hesitancy'' sentiment.

[ENG audio 3]

After the vaccination, there are bound to be a series of death cases among the people living in nursing homes, which can have nothing to do with the vaccine. However, public perception is another matter. If the cases are frequent, even if a clinical expert committee follows up and explains what has happened, it may not suffice to change the perception. The ''vaccine hesitancy'' sentiment is now spreading. If the authorities do not do a proper job of psychological anticipation management and make hasty vaccination arrangements in nursing homes, once the public loses confidence in vaccination, it will be very difficult for the government to promote COVID-19 vaccination in the future.

[ENG audio 4]

Since the end of last year, many countries have been conducting large-scale COVID-19 vaccination programmes. One observation is that ''vaccine hesitancy'' is more common in regions where the pandemic is relatively well controlled. The outbreak is serious in Europe and the US and there is the possibility of contracting the coronavirus in every place. Many people are much more worried that they will die from the pandemic than they will die after the vaccination, while the government is eager to promote vaccination in the hope that the pandemic will be gradually controlled. COVID-19 is highly lethal to the elderly, and the benefits of vaccination for people in nursing homes in Europe and the US must be far greater than the risks. The fact that the mainland and Macao have not included people over 60 years of age in the priority vaccination groups reflects to a certain extent that the pandemic has eased off in the two regions so there is no such urgency.

[ENG audio 5]

院舍接種審慎處理 避免加劇疫苗猶豫

政府推進新冠疫苗接種,除了增加優先接種組別,稍後亦將安排10間規模較大院舍優先接種。本港院舍多次爆疫,當局為院舍長者接種疫苗,港府處理必須分外慎重,以免「疫苗猶豫」情緒進一步升溫。各地政府緊急批准接種新冠疫苗,前提都是效益大於風險,然而不同地區疫情輕重迥異,公眾感染病毒的機率,現實差距明顯。

[PTH audio 1]

疫情爆發以來,單日新增確診病例,是不少人每天密切留意的數字,現在社會上下又多了一個相當關心的數字:打針後的「異常」個案。本港新冠疫苗接種計劃展開以來,「針後亡」累計3宗,另有接種者事後因為心血管疾病送院,情况危殆。部分人接種疫苗後,會有一些副作用反應,惟從科學角度,「針後亡」不等於針致死,兩件事無必然因果關係,短時間內有萬計的人接種,若論或然率,有人巧合「針後亡」不足為奇。

[PTH audio 2]

60歲以上長者是否適合接種科興疫苗,近日引起甚多議論,政府則強調,疫苗專家委員會衡量風險與效益後,認為可以接種。本港4波疫情,院舍一再出現爆發,多人染疫死亡,當局推動院舍接種,從疫情防控和風險效益而言,理由都很充分,然而具體操作安排必須格外慎重,倘若處理失當,反而有可能進一步推高「疫苗猶豫」情緒。

[PTH audio 3]

院舍接種後,必然會有連串院友「針後亡」個案,這可以跟疫苗全無關係,然而公眾觀感卻是另一回事,倘若個案密集出現,縱有臨牀專家委員會跟進和解釋,也未必可以改變社會看法。「疫苗猶豫」情緒現已不斷蔓延,當局若不及早做好心理預期管理,院舍打針安排操之過急,一旦市民對接種疫苗失去信心,政府往後推動新冠疫苗接種,將會困難重重。

[PTH audio 4]

去年底以來,多國陸續大規模接種新冠疫苗,其中一個趨勢,疫情控制相對理想的地區,「疫苗猶豫」情况亦較為普遍。歐美疫情嚴重,處處都可能遇上新冠病毒,不少人擔心染疫亡遠多於「針後亡」,政府亦急於推進疫苗接種,盼望疫情逐步受控。新冠病毒對長者殺傷力大,歐美院舍疫情重災,為院友打針效益一定遠大於風險;內地澳門未將60歲以上人士納入優先接種群組,某程度折射兩地疫情緩和,無此迫切性。

[PTH audio 5]

明報社評2021.03.11