The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Patrick Nip, and the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Mr Frank Chan Fan, visited the Kowloon Bay Depot of the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL) today (June 17). During the visit, they and the Managing Director - Operations and Mainland Business of the MTRCL, Mr Adi Lau, and the Commercial Director of the MTRCL, Ms Jeny Yeung, jointly viewed the administering of a COVID-19 vaccine to staff members of the organisation as arranged by the Government's outreach vaccination service. The MTRCL is the first public transport operator to participate in outreach vaccination.

     About 720 MTRCL staff members and their family members are expected to receive the Sinovac or the BioNTech vaccine today and tomorrow. 

     "Many people use MTR services every day. Staff members of the MTRCL, whether they are front-line staff working at customer service centres and platforms of the railway stations or maintenance staff performing support duties in depots, have a wide range of contact with the public every day. Hence, it is very important for them to get vaccinated, not only to protect themselves and their families, but also to safeguard the health of passengers in an indirect way. I truly hope that more public transport operators will support the vaccination programme and proactively encourage and arrange for their employees to get vaccinated," Mr Nip said. 

     Mr Chan said, "As a major public transport operator in Hong Kong, the MTRCL provides service for nearly 5 million passenger trips every day. I would like to thank the MTRCL for supporting the Early Vaccination for All campaign, not only to protect the health of the employees, but also to build an immune barrier for their families and the community. Vaccination is an effective way to allow society to return to normal. I call on other public transport operators to arrange vaccination for their employees as soon as possible and work together to help Hong Kong ride out the epidemic." 

     Mr Nip called on various sectors and industries to join the Government in promoting the Early Vaccination for All campaign and encourage their employees to get vaccinated so as to help build an immune barrier in Hong Kong as soon as possible by significantly raising the vaccination rate during the three-month-long critical period from now until the end of August, thereby restoring normality to society sooner rather than later. 

     He said should enterprises and organisations have a sufficient number of employees who would like to get vaccinated and a suitable venue with sufficient space, they can make use of the outreach vaccination service so that their employees can be vaccinated in a more convenient way. Enterprises and groups can call the hotline for the outreach vaccination service at 3904 1490 from Monday to Friday, from 9am to 6pm, for arrangements. 

     There has been enthusiastic support for the outreach vaccination programme since it was launched by the Civil Service Bureau (CSB). Having provided the outreach vaccination service to the Hong Kong Sports Institute, global professional services enterprises, a property developer, a financial institution and the construction industry, the CSB is now proactively in discussions with enterprises and groups from various sectors, including post-secondary institutions, public utilities and theme parks and the like on the feasibility of providing the service to them. 

     Mr Nip expressed his gratitude to the medical team and administrative support staff of the Community Vaccination Centre at Tin Fai Road Sports Centre for providing the outreach service today. 

Ends/Thursday, June 17, 2021
Issued at HKT 16:30

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