Malacañang announced that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are now part of the A1 priority list in the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program.
The A1 category also includes medical frontliners in the prioritization in the vaccination rollout.
“Outbound OFWs, family members of health workers now under A1 priority group,” Roque said in a media briefing.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) dismissed fears over Saudi Arabia’s new policy on the entry of foreign nationals with specific COVID-19 vaccine brands.
Labor chief Silvestre Bello said OFWs are not covered by the said policy.
“Sinabihan ako ng policy ng Saudi ay kinocover lamang yung mga foreign traveller at hindi kasama ang ating mga OFW,” Bello said in a media briefing.
The government official said that he explained to their Saudi counterparts the situation on the limited vaccine supply and the government is aiming to vaccinate as many as it can regardless of any approved COVID-19 vaccine.
It was reported that KSA and European member countries will not allow entry for travellers who got COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese pharmaceutical firms such as Sinovac-BioNTech.
So far, the labor department has yet to receive any reports of discrimination among OFWs over preferred COVID-19 vaccine brands by their host countries.
The Philippines has currently rolled out the vaccination of Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, and Sputnik V brands.
