| Mission says FDWs need the post-jab rest because they do hard physical work |
A migrant support organization has called on the
foreign domestic workers after each coronavirus vaccine, in line with a
reported plan to give the same benefit to civil servants.
The call came as another zero infection day was reported
today, May 30. This marks the 29th day that no untraceable local
case of Covid-19 has been reported in the city.
The number of cases in
The Centre for Health Protection
officially amended the classification of five recent cases into imported cases
after they were earlier described as local, with sources unknown.
All had finished their 21-day hotel
quarantine long before they tested positive, but with low viral load and with
antibodies, suggesting an old infection.
Government health experts said yesterday they were infected
at least two months before they tested positive during routine tests after
leaving quarantine.
Included in these cases are four foreign domestic helpers
who tested positive during the second round of compulsory testing for all FDHs.
They arrived in
between Feb 20 and Apr 25 this year.
Two of them are Indonesians aged 29 and 39 years old,
respectively; while the other two are Filipinas aged 37 and 46, who were also
found to carry the mutant N501Y strain.
The fifth was a Pakistani construction worker aged 43 who
arrived from his home country on Mar 16 and was found positive on May 25.
Meanwhile, a government source quoted by a local newspaper
said
paid leave for each of their two Covid-19 vaccinations in a new attempt to boost
the sluggish inoculation rate.
But the government workers must get the jab before a date to
be announced by the administration this week. Those who have already received
their shots are also eligible for the time off.
The news comes amid reports that even among frontliners
working for the Health Department, only about a third have received their first
vaccine shot.
| The low take-up rate for the vaccine has prompted various groups to dangle incentives |
Cynthia Tellez, general manager of the
government must likewise oblige employers to give their FDWs a similar break
when they take a vaccine shot.
“This is exactly what they need,” Tellez said. “Instead of
forcing migrant workers to get vaccinated, the government should give them
incentive.”
Tellez was referring to a now-aborted plan by the government
to force all FDWs to get vaccinated. An outcry from various sectors, including
from the consulates of countries that send FDWs to
Kong
Tellez said that FDWs, more than office workers, need
to be assured that they are entitled to rest days should they experience after-effects
from a vaccine since they do more laborious work.
As of the latest government tally, only 986,600 (or 15% of
the 6.5 million qualified residents) have received two shots of a coronavirus
vaccine. A further 1,342,200 have received their first dose (about 20%), for a
combined total of 2,328,700.
Health experts say at least 70% of all qualified residents
should get vaccinated before a place attains herd immunity from Covid-19.
The low vaccination rate has prompted the private sector to
offer various incentives such as free plane tickets to a $10.8 million flat and
cash prizes in a raffle draw, to get more people to go for the jab.
The government, for its part, has dangled the prospects of
quarantine-free travel to some countries or more relaxed social distancing
regulations to those who are fully vaccinated, or have had two vaccine doses 14
days earlier.
