Vaccine hesitancy in Hong Kong
However, in Hong Kong, one of the most developed places in the world, only 63.06% of elderly aged 60-69, 44.61% of elderly aged 70-79, and 17.51% of elderly aged 17.51% had already been vaccinated on 20 November 2021. (Figure 2c) (The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, n.d.). Hong Kong, in fact, has a more prevalent COVID-vaccine hesitancy relative to Mainland China and New Zealand where the ‘zero - COVID’ strategy is also
0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00% 100.00% 120.00% 12-15 16-17 18-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80 or above COVID-19 Vaccine Coverage (first dose)
Figure 2b. Percentage of people by age receiving at least one dose of COVID- 19 vaccine in the UK (National Immunisation Management System (NIMS), UK Health Security Agency, 2021)
adopted. (Xiao, 2022)
Vaccine
hesitancy
is
a
complex To understand it, all the factors associated with vaccine question. hesitancy amongst Hong Kong elderly need to be untangled and studied individually because each factor affects vaccine uptake to a different degree. In this study, a combination of the Health Belief Model (LaMorte, 2019) and the 5C model (Cornelia Betsch, 2018) were used to investigate vaccine hesitancy.
Figure 2c. Percentage of people by age receiving at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Hong Kong (The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, n.d.)
Respondents recruitment
An anonymous cross-sectional survey of people aged above 60 was conducted from 27 February to 9 March. Respondents were recruited from government-funded District Health Centres (DHC) and District Health Centres Express. The key functions of DHC are ‘ A service/resource hub, Health promotion, Disease prevention and screening, Chronic disease management, Community rehabilitation ’ (Food and Health Bureau, n.d.). It is expected that respondents are generally more active individuals who are more health-conscious. These DHC cover 15 out of 18 districts in Hong Kong,
163
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs