OFWs going to Singapore not required to get vaccinated vs COVID-19

An official of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced that overseas Filipino workers heading to Singapore are not required to be injected with the COVID-19 vaccine to enter the said country.

According to Labor Attaché in Singapore Saul De Vries, the Singapore government implements strict quarantine protocols, but their requirement does not include the vaccination of incoming OFWs.

“It is not a condition for OFWs to be inoculated before departing for their jobs. However, the Singapore government require them to undergo a 21-day institutional quarantine and take the RT-PCR test thrice,” the official said.

So far, Singapore has suspended entry approval applications of foreign workers from so-called “high-risk” countries.

“Hopefully, such regulation of policy will be reviewed this coming July when cases of COVID-19 infection have slowed down,” said De Vries.

There are an estimated 200,000 Filipinos in Singapore, the majority of whom are professionals, skilled workers, household service workers, healthcare workers, and staff in the tourism and information technology industries.

OFWs going to Singapore not required to get vaccinated vs COVID-19

Recently, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Singapore approved more than 200 job orders for vaccinators, with monthly salaries ranging from 1,800 to 2,000 Singaporean dollars or the equivalent of P63,000.

Although Singapore does not oblige OFWs to get vaccinated, De Vries said it would still be better for Filipinos to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I believe that most, if not all, of our OFWs in the healthcare industry have already been vaccinated since they are included in the priority group listing,” he said.

Meanwhile, the influx of vaccines in the country is expected with the arrival of another million doses of Sinovac and 2.2 million doses of Pfizer vaccines on June 10 to continue the government’s vaccination program.

After a million supplies of Sinovac’s CoronaVac from the government, this was purchased at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 yesterday.

Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said there will now be a steady supply of the vaccine with the arrival of an additional 1 million doses of CoronaVac and 2.2 million doses of Pfizer from COVAX.