MOM clarifies that 55 per cent of migrant workers at Westlite Jalan Tukang dormitory are vaccinated or with verified status

Singapore ― The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Saturday (Oct 16) that slightly more than half of the migrant workers at Westlite Jalan Tukang dormitory have been vaccinated against Covid-19 or have verified their vaccination status.

Officers from MOM Forward Assurance and Support Teams (FAST) were deployed to the Westlite Jalan Tukang dormitory on Oct 13, following claims regarding breaches of Covid-19 health protocols, poor quality of catered food and lack of access to medical assistance for the workers.

MOM has since clarified that it deployed “insufficient resources” for an “unexpected” increase in Covid-19 cases at the dormitory, which led to delays in transferring the workers to care or recovery facilities.

Chief of MOM’s Assurance, Care and Engagement (ACE) Group Tung Yui Fai also revealed that a majority of the migrant workers at the dormitory were not vaccinated against Covid-19.

“Many of them have arrived in Singapore not too many months ago and are worried about infection as Singapore is transiting to ‘living with COVID’. Hence, it is important to explain to them how we are doing this,” said Mr Tung.

“We are working with the employer to encourage them to be vaccinated either with our national vaccines for the best protection, but if they wish, with a vaccine that they accept, he said in a Channel News Asia report.

After the clarification on the status of the 55 per cent of workers, MOM said that the remaining 45 per cent are pending verification or waiting for a vaccine from the Pandemic Special Access Route (PSAR) or World Health Organization Emergency Use Listing Procedure (WHO EUL).

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are under PSAR while vaccines listed in WHO EUL include AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sinopharm, Sinovac and Covishield.

“Until the verification process is completed and the vaccination records updated in the National Immunisation Registry, migrant workers will be considered as unvaccinated for Rostered Routine Testing and public health actions,” said MOM.

The agency noted that verification could take several weeks to complete. /TISG

Read related: Forum letter writer says: “Let dormitory operators face the music themselves”

Forum letter writer says: “Let dormitory operators face the music themselves”