Man regrets going to Raffles City for vaccination, says ‘I am not racist but if I knew there were a hundred Indian foreign workers I would have missed the appt’

Update: Responding to TISG’s queries, Mr Chia said: “Hi, that was an old post on 2 May 2021. I have no issue with vaccination of foreign workers at Raffles City. I was concern (sic) at that time because Delta variant just reached our shore and there was an existing cluster at the Westlite dormitory.

There was safe distancing but no segregation of local and foreign workers at the waiting area, vaccination room and observation room. The foreign workers were wearing identical uniform (sic) and I assume they were either from a construction company or a dormitory.

Given the fact that the Delta variant transmissibility is very strong and reading the situation in India at that time, I guess it is a normal reaction to worry and felt that the Government could have vaccinated the foreign workers at their dormitories and not Raffles City which is the heart of Singapore. I do not feel uncomfortable with the foreign workers.

I do not have any prejudice. It was just a very normal reaction from reading all about Delta variant and the cluster at the dormitory and Changi airport.”

Singapore — A man who went to Raffles City for his vaccination appointment complained on social media that there were too many foreign workers present at the centre.

In a post to Facebook group United Singaporean, one Mr Chia wrote: “Took my jab at Raffles City yesterday at around 6pm. There was (sic) about a hundred foreign workers from India queuing up to take the vaccination”.

Asking if they were from any dormitories where Covid-19 clusters were formed, Mr Chia questioned why they were not vaccinated in the dormitories themselves, or in their own work places. “The mutated double variant is known to stay in a human body for a long time to evade detection”, he continued.

Mr Chia also pointed out that there were many cases where travellers from India tested negative for Covid-19 while serving their Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) period, but tested positive after their quarantine period.

“I am not racist but can the PAP government take a stronger preventive approach?” he wrote, adding that the PAP refused to issue a blanket ban on travellers from India when the mutated variant “was at critical point”. At the end of his now-removed post, Mr Chia noted that Raffles City was crowded with shoppers on the Saturday he went for his vaccination.

“Maybe an approximate 10,000 unique visitors who are mostly local”, he added. Mr Chia continued: “If I knew there were a hundred Indian foreign workers in the vaccination center (sic), I would not have honor (sic) the appointment”.

In his post, Mr Chia also shared two photos, one presumably of himself with Indian men in the background, and another photo of a queue with five Indian men waiting.

As of Jul 31, 4,307,602 people had received at least the first dose of their vaccine, and 3,391,799 people had completed their full vaccination regimen.

TISG has reached out to Mr Chia for comment and clarification. /TISG