Home-care services providers for new mothers, children, the elderly and people with mobility impairment on Wednesday urged the government to prioritize their employees for COVID-19 vaccination, saying that their work puts them at risk of infection.
As their work requires frequent, close interaction with people in their homes, they are at high risk of contracting COVID-19, Peng Wan-ru Foundation chief executive officer Wang Chao-ching (王兆慶) said.
The foundation employs 1,152 women to provide home-care services in Taipei and New Taipei City, servicing 7,462 homes, he said.
It also employs 64 women who provide postpartum services, he said, adding that 562 new mothers in the two cities last year booked its services.
Wang Pin (王品), an assistant professor in National Taipei University’s social work department said that “when Sweden began vaccinating its population in December last year, they included home-care providers in the first priority group.”
“Anyone who worked with the elderly, or in in-patient and out-patient care, was vaccinated first,” he added
The Netherlands also prioritized workers who provide care services in people’s homes or deliver food, he said.
Echoing Wang Pin, Taiwan Labour Front secretary-general Son Yu-liam (孫友聯) said: “Of course you need to protect people who work in other people’s homes, because they come in close contact with so many of them. There is no way for this type of work to be done remotely.”
Vaccinating home-care service workers would not only offer them protection, but also stabilize employment in the sector, Son said.
Awakening Foundation secretary-general Chyn Yu-rung (覃玉蓉) said that people “with serious illnesses or disabilities need these workers to come to their homes to clean, care for them and accompany them.”
“New mothers also need postpartum care,” Chyn said. “If these workers can’t get vaccinated, they might have to stop providing these important services.”
If home-care services were unavailable, especially women with family members in need of care would have to quit their jobs to stay home and care for them, she said.
Social worker Chien Yu-jen (簡鈺人) said that her work includes visits to 11 households where she provides meals and cleans.
“I’ve had both my vaccine shots now, but I’m still only at half of my regular work capacity,” she said. “What can those who haven’t been vaccinated do? They might have zero income.”
Many workers in the sector are older women, she said, adding that they came out of retirement and rely on the income from their home-care jobs.
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