Hong Kong migrant worker groups on Saturday criticised plans to make coronavirus vaccines compulsory for all foreign domestic helpers, labelling the move “discriminatory and unjust”.
Health officials said they were planning to roll out mandatory inoculations for the 370,000 domestic helpers in the city, mostly poorly-paid women from the Philippines and Indonesia.
Those wanting to apply for work visas — or renew their current ones — would need to show they had been vaccinated, officials said Friday.
If the plan goes ahead it would be the first time Hong Kong has directly tied working rights for foreigners to vaccines.
“This is clearly an act of discrimination and stigmatisation against migrant domestic workers,” Dolores Balladares Pelaez, chair of United Filipinos in Hong Kong, told reporters.
Labour groups representing domestic workers said they were angered other foreigners — and locals working in environments such as care homes — were not also required to get…