When a government pandemic adviser declared on May 29 the end of Hong Kong’s so-called fourth wave of outbreaks, it unfortunately didn’t entail an assurance for better days ahead. For the city, the threat is always there, with only around 14 percent of its population fully vaccinated — far below the 70 percent required mark for herd immunity. Experts have long been cautioning that at this slow pace of inoculation, the Hong Kong communities aren’t fortified well against any new outbreak, which might even involve a more-transmissible mutant strain.

People had always complied with hygiene instructions, which helped the authorities greatly every time there was a new outbreak. With plenty of vaccines available now, people are not in a rush to get vaccinated. Since the start of the vaccinations on Feb 26, 1,419,100 people, or 18.9 percent of the population, took the first dose, while 1,047,400 had received both shots as of June 2.

The fear of adverse reactions —compounded by widespread misinformation and a lack of trust in the government — proved to be unfounded, with no link found between the reported reactions and vaccinations. What we see in other countries is that there is really no serious adverse effects to be worried about. After administering millions of doses of BioNTech, Israeli authorities looked carefully for evidence that the jab was triggering something, and there is no evidence it did.

To encourage jab-taking, public sector workers have been offered up to two more days of paid leave if they take the shots by the end of August. Banks have been urged to follow the government’s practice to give extra days of leave to vaccinated staff. The administration is looking to enlist local businesses and institutions to help get people vaccinated. Major companies, restaurants, and even colleges have started offering cash payouts, extra time off, and even the chance to win a US$1.4 million apartment.

Monetary incentives are good. But there is no justification for paying people to do something, which is their civic duty. If the authorities come up with offers or prizes to lure people to get the shots, it might reinforce the misconception that the shots might have some problems.

A surge is seen in booking since incentives were rolled out, but Hong Kong still lags behind in its vaccination rate. Just 14 percent of Hong Kong residents have been fully inoculated. That’s well below 40.7 percent in the US and neighboring Singapore’s 28.3 percent.

The government is now faced with a situation in which it has either to dispose of unused doses by incineration, or donate or resell them to other countries as they are set to expire within the next couple of months. Of nearly 4 million jabs that have arrived in the city, about 2,466,500 doses have been administered to the public so far. Just think about the struggle the government had to go through to secure the 15 million vaccines from BioNTech and Sinovac.

With its back against the wall, the government is planning to ban unvaccinated residents from certain premises such as restaurants, schools, hostels, cinemas, performance halls and sports venues in the event a fifth wave of infections begins. But such steps won’t be necessary if the city achieves a “satisfactory vaccination rate” by August, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said. As per the plan, unvaccinated residents may have to serve longer periods of quarantine if they are identified as close contacts of infected people. The government has a responsibility to protect the residents, and to take bold action when necessary. If it doesn’t do so and anything goes wrong, it’s the government that will be blamed for going soft.

Still, some people see such desperate steps as discriminatory against those who opted not to get vaccinated. Responding to it, Lam said they had to be fair to those who had taken the jab too, so “all of us together can reach a higher level of vaccination rate that will keep the city safe”.

The authorities worked hard to maintain zero infections so that they could have quarantine-free travel with other countries and reopen the border with the mainland. Compared to that, the drive to improve the vaccination rate seems to lack steam.

People now need to be told that if they wait until the fifth wave arrives, there may not be jabs available for them then, as they will need to have both jabs and a certain time has to pass after that to get full protection.

Hong Kong needs to have vaccine passes, like the one being used successfully in Israel. The EU is also expected to pass legislation this week on a digital EU COVID-19 certificate with enforceable measures across member states.

The government needs to set a timeline to end quarantine, Ben Cowling, professor at the School of Public Health, the University of Hong Kong, said in a Bloomberg interview. “There is a short reduction in quarantine if you are vaccinated and are named as having been in contact with an infected person (compared to being unvaccinated), but it’s maybe not attractive enough to encourage people to get vaccinated now.” Many expert think the government should exempt quarantine altogether for overseas arrivals who have been fully vaccinated and test negative for the virus.

With an accelerated vaccination drive, the mainland may return to normal this year. Even if COVID-19 returns, it won’t pose a major threat. “That will leave Hong Kong very isolated, still trying to keep COVID out entirely because of the risk posed by our low vaccination coverage,” said Cowling.

It will definitely raise the specter of a permanent pandemic stalemate here, leaving people unable to return to normal life. Do they want to remain caught in this loop of uncertainty and wear masks for the rest of their lives?

The author is a Hong Kong-based journalist.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.