Hong Kong:
Hong Kong on Tuesday scrapped a strategy to make coronavirus vaccines mandatory for foreign domestic workers following the proposal sparked an outcry and a diplomatic tussle with the Philippines.
Health officials planned to roll out mandatory inoculations for the 370,000 domestic workers in the city, mainly poorly paid ladies from the Philippines and Indonesia.
Those wanting to apply for work visas — or renew their present ones — would want to show they had received two doses.
But on Tuesday city leader Carrie Lam announced a U-turn.
“The government has decided not to request mandatory vaccination when helpers renew their contracts,” she stated, adding the selection had been made following meetings with officials from the Philippines and Indonesia.
Philippine foreign affairs secretary Teodoro Locsin had previously warned the initial proposal “smacked of discrimination”.
Hong Kong overall health officials announced the mandatory vaccination strategy following two domestic workers have been discovered to be infected with one of the more virulent strains of the coronavirus.
They stated domestic workers have been “high risk” since they usually work with the elderly and meet in parks on Sundays — normally their one day off a week.
Labour groups representing domestic workers stated they felt they have been becoming singled out, noting that the households they worked for — as effectively as locals working in environments such as care residences — have been not necessary to get vaccinated.
They also pointed out that wealthier foreign migrants such as the city’s white-collar monetary workers have been not forced to get vaccines when outbreaks of the coronavirus have been traced to their effectively-heeled districts.
Thanks to strict quarantine measures and economically painful social distancing guidelines, Hong Kong has kept infections to just beneath 12,000 situations and 210 deaths.
It has secured ample vaccine doses but the public take-up has been quite low.
So far just 16 % of the city’s 7.5 million folks have received one or more doses, a extended way from the 60-70 % regarded as important for herd immunity.
Regular polling shows Hong Kongers have some of the lowest help ratings for inoculation in the world.
Some of Hong Kong’s BioNTech/Pfizer vaccines will pass their shelf-life in September and officials fret they may perhaps be in the unenviable position of throwing away great doses.
The vaccination drive has been hampered by the government’s public trust deficit.
After substantial democracy protests exploded in 2019, Hong Kong’s unpopular unelected leaders — with the backing of Beijing — have overseen a sweeping crackdown in dissent in the city.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)