Four Southeast Asian countries have made a joint appeal for migrant workers in Taiwan to be added to the priority list for vaccinations against COVID-19, a statement obtained by the Central News Agency (CNA) on Thursday showed.
The statement, signed by the representative offices of Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, said their countries account for 99.8 percent of the migrant workforce in Taiwan.
“We have been facing the COVID-19 pandemic for over a year now and recent events have brought our concern on the vulnerability of our migrant workforce,” the four representative offices in Taipei said in the statement, which they submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs late last month.
The offices said that cooperation in addressing the health and safety of migrant workers from the four Southeast Asian countries is important, as the vulnerability of those workers could affect the health and social welfare of the wider Taiwan population.
“We jointly urge the relevant authorities to consider prioritizing migrant workers in its vaccination program, while also recognizing that vaccines given must meet international standards and [be] administered on a voluntary basis,” the statement said.
The offices added that they hoped Taiwanese authorities would give priority to improving the living conditions of migrant workers, with particular attention to cramped spaces.
“At the very least,” meaningful discussions should take place among all parties concerned to counter the impact of COVID-19, the statement said.
Migrant blue-collar workers are not included on the Central Epidemic Command Center’s 10-category priority list for COVID-19 vaccination, which gives precedence to elderly people, frontline healthcare workers and people in other high-risk jobs.
Last month, media reports said the Industrial Development Bureau had asked companies in the industrial parks to provide lists of workers who wished to receive locally developed COVID-19 vaccines.
Amid accusations from the opposition parties that the government is promoting locally developed COVID-19 vaccines although they have not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the bureau issued a statement saying it had discontinued its vaccination “survey” among migrant workers.
Two Taiwanese biotechnology firms, Medigen Vaccine Biologics and United Biomedical, have applied for emergency use authorization of their COVID-19 vaccines.
Medigen said it has applied to conduct phase 3 clinical trials in Paraguay, while UBI said it was seeking to do the same in India.
The government has signed contracts to buy 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the two companies.
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS