The Government of Macau guaranteed yesterday that the covid-19 vaccine will be administered in the territory on a voluntary basis and that it will be free for residents.
“We will not be taking compulsory measures so that everyone can be administered the vaccine”, guaranteed the health authorities, in a press conference, however, they warned about the flexibility of the measures taken. “If the epidemiological situation continues, there are other factors to take into account. At the beginning of the pandemic, testing was not mandatory, but now it is a normality (the test being mandatory). Nobody can say whether or not there will be new measures ”.
Although they do not provide information on which vaccines will arrive in the territory – given that terms of confidentiality have been signed with the companies producing the vaccines -, health authorities have ensured that the vaccines administered by the Government will be safe and effective.
Macau acquired emergency vaccines, which were not approved, and are expected to arrive by the end of the year for frontline personnel, such as doctors, nurses, firefighters and police.
For the rest of the population, 1.4 million doses are expected, from various suppliers, which are expected to arrive over the first six months of 2021. According to the Government, risk groups will have priority.
According to the authorities, the vaccine will only be free for non-residents if it turns out that it is in the public interest to do so.
The covid-19 pandemic caused at least 1,529,324 deaths resulting from more than 66.4 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report made by the French agency AFP.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China.
