PSP denies rumors of forced vaccination of officers

The Public Security Police Force (PSP) has denied rumors claiming that police officers were being forcibly vaccinated against Covid-19. Ma Chio Hong, representative of PSP issued the denial yesterday at the press conference of the Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Center.
Ma was questioned by the media about an alleged threat made to PSP officers, in which they would be penalized in their performance evaluation if they did not get the vaccine immediately.
In the response, he said that never heard of anything like it among the force and that such a rumor is a direct contradiction of the force’s position, which allows officers to choose if they wish to be vaccinated or not.
“There has never been a relationship between getting or not getting the vaccine, and work performance evaluations that all staff are subject to,” he remarked. He noted that, like any other civil servants, officers that are not vaccinated against Covid-19 need only present proof of a negative nucleic acid test (NAT) every seven days to work normally.
Asked later if the police would consider prosecuting those who began the rumor, Ma said that it would be necessary to investigate the source of the misinformation as well as its context to determine if there was a clear intention to cause harm or defame the institution.

Vaccination rate at 70%
The coordinator of the Center Leong Iek Hou announced that as of 4 p.m. yesterday, almost 800,000 doses of the vaccines had been distributed, and almost 350,000 people had been fully vaccinated in Macau, or about 70% of the population.
Leong added that the rates of vaccination among youngsters (aged 12 to 19 years old) have been growing slightly. She continues to place the focus of the vaccination on the members of the society that aged 60 and above, which she claims is the age group with the lowest vaccination rate.
“We have been passing on the information and encouraging the youngsters — specifically students — to get vaccinated. This has been working positively, but we are now more concerned about the senior population,” Leong said.
“[People aged 60 and above] are more likely to suffer from severe effects of infection with Covid-19: effects that are 100 times more serious than among youngsters. We are calling on the younger population to try to encourage [seniors] to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”
While she maintains that an 80% vaccination rate in the general population is still the goal being pursued, Leong explained that, in light of the evidence collected about the Delta variant of Covid-19, reaching this rate is unlikely to have any immediate effect on the prevention and control measures adopted. Specifically, the mandatory use of facemasks, temperature measuring, social distancing and other measures currently in force are likely to continue.
She anticipated that the most immediate effect likely to be seen is a potential extension of the validity period for cross-border NAT to seven days for those fully vaccinated.
Figures from the PSP yesterday show that, in the past few days, border-crossing has stabilized to around 360,000 entries and exits per day.

Covid-19 | Vaccination outreach program in schools to resume next week

The vaccination outreach program in non-tertiary education institutions is expected to resume next week, Wong Ka Ki, head of the Department of Non-tertiary Education from the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ), said yesterday during the Covid-19 press briefing.
The program was suspended before it even started, with the cancellation of classes following the discovery of community cases. According to Wong, the program is now set to resume next week, as the DSESJ finishes gathering information on all the students, teachers, and other staff members that wish to take part.
The official also took the opportunity to remind the population that because the Sinopharm vaccine has now been approved for people under 12 years old, students and their parents now have a second vaccine option.
Wong also noted that while the vaccination rate for the teaching staff and students of tertiary education is quite high (85%), the same cannot be said for non-tertiary institutions, where the rate is only about 46%. Wong noted that DSEDJ has been encouraging non-tertiary students and staff members to boost the immunization rate and, consequently, the immunity barrier in schools.