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.
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