Overseas Filipino workers in Qatar may receive free COVID-19 vaccines, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Monday.
The department cited the report of Labor Attache’ David Des Dicang to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III saying the vaccines may be made available by the Qatari government to OFWs for free.
The Philippine Labor Office in Qatar said the Arab state got its first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine December 21.
According to Dicang, Qatar Prime Minister and concurrent Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani directed the health sector to provide the vaccine to everyone in accordance with the health standards of Qatar.
Citing an update from the Advisor to the Minister of Public Health for Sports and Emergency Affairs, Dr. Abdul Wahab Al Musle, he said the vaccine that was developed by Pfizer and BioNTech will be first administered to the elderly people, those with chronic diseases, and the frontline health workers.
The report, according to Dicang, added that the general population will start getting the vaccines gradually from January, 2021.
COVID-19 vaccination, however, is not required as the public will be given the option of not receiving the vaccine once the government starts to administer it.
Meanwhile, in an online forum, Dicang revealed receiving a request for healthcare workers coming from the Philippines.
"There was a time even at the height of the COVID-19 (pandemic)...the Qatar government, the Ministry of Public Health, has a request to get more health workers and we have been receiving requests until today," he said.
"We have a good number of health workers here. In almost all hospitals we have (Filipino) nurses, doctors," added Dicang.
He said there are 240,000 OFWs in Qatar and more than 3,000 of them are healthcare workers.