A girl receives the flu vaccination shot from a nurse at a free clinic held at a local library on Oct 14, 2020 in Lakewood, California, United States. (Mario Tama/Getty Images/TNS)
Chief Executive Carrie Lam said in a media broadcast today that the Hong Kong government has canceled the mandatory vaccine order for migrant domestic workers (PRT), but requires migrant domestic workers to have a follow-up Covid-19 test between 15 and 30 May, Tuesday ( 11/5/2021).
Authorities have previously announced that migrant domestic workers will be required to be vaccinated before signing or renewing their employment contracts in Hong Kong. But the plan sparked public outrage and criticism of the government which has once again targeted hundreds of thousands of migrant domestic workers on its territory.
Lam said officials had abandoned the idea of mandatory vaccines after considering the views of the consul general, migrant domestic workers groups and employers’ groups.
“After assessing the public health needs and the fact that vaccination is voluntary in other countries, as well as the legal issues we might face if vaccination were mandatory, we will not require vaccination when a migrant domestic worker applies for a visa,” Lam said.
But Lam added that migrant domestic workers would be required to take a second stage of Covid tests before May 30 as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the disease. The testing order, which will not apply to those who have been fully vaccinated, is expected to be issued on May 15. In the early stages of mandatory COVID-19 testing followed by more than 300,000 migrant domestic workers, it ended on 9 May.
Lam appealed to employers to allow migrant domestic workers to take upcoming tests on weekdays, so they don’t have to queue on their days off. Lam also noted that Hong Kong’s infection rate has remained low in the past two weeks, with a total of 11 local coronavirus cases and only one through an unknown source.
