Lack of info makes many OFWs shy away from coronavirus vaccine

By Daisy CL Mandap 

Most OFWs are uncertain about the advantages of taking the vaccine

A random survey of Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong show many are either unwilling, or hesitant, to get the coronavirus vaccine, which will be made publicly available for selected groups starting tomorrow, Feb 26.

When asked why, the usual answer was they were afraid of adverse consequences, or they did not know much of what to expect, so they would rather not take the jab. Others want to play it safe, saying they want to observe first and make a decision later.

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But social media sites are also replete with vehement rejection from some workers, who are positive they would die from the vaccine, but could only cite the opinion of other people - including their employers - or share dubious sites to support their claim.

This was despite a very public display of support for the vaccination program by Chief Executive Carrie Lam and her top officials, who all had their Sinovac jabs Monday in front of dozens of cameras, in a proceeding carried live on social media.

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The next day, the CE reported an overwhelming response to the free inoculation drive, saying a total of 42,000 people had booked appointments to get the vaccine in the first nine hours since the registration opened at midnight.

Among those who declared they would be getting the jab were a couple of Filipino migrant workers who said they had been listed up to accompany their elderly wards, who are in the priority list for the first round of inoculation.

Villanueva is among a few who are raring to get the jab

Eman Villanueva, chairperson of Bayan Hong Kong and Macau, said he, too, will “definitely” take the vaccine once it becomes available for people in his age group.

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“I believe mass vaccination is a scientific approach to address the Covid-19 pandemic. Historically, vaccinations saved millions of lives sa mga sumulpot ng mga sakit sa kasaysayan ng tao,” he said.

Villanueva said he did not have a preferred brand yet, “but I will choose the ones that are tested to have the highest efficacy and lowest side effects.”

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The vaccine from Germany’s BioNTech, which is co-producing it with Fosun Pharma for China and Hong Kong but with Pfizer for the rest of the world, is shown by clinical trials to be 95% effective. But concerns about its effect on people with severe allergies have left many skeptical about whether it is the right vaccine for them.

Mainland firm Sinovac, which shipped the first one million doses of its vaccine, Coronavac, to Hong Kong on Friday, has an efficacy rate of between 50-65%, but is believed to cause fewer side effects, as it is made in the conventional way, using inactivated virus particles.

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The third vaccine procured for Hong Kong , AstraZeneca, which is produced by an Anglo-Swedish group, has an efficacy rate of between 76-81%, if the second dose is taken within 12 weeks after the first.

“I will recommend vaccination to all, including my family and fellow OFWs, for the same reason why I am going to take it. I am hopeful but at the same time readying for the worst,” he said.

With the different variants of the coronavirus that are emerging, he said he’s not sure if the vaccines could end the pandemic. “But I still believe vaccination is one of the correct ways forward,” he said.

Villar will take the jab if the Consulate recommends it

Rodelia Pedro Villar, founder of the big online group, Domestic Workers Corner, is one of those who have yet to be convinced that a vaccine is preferable to just taking all the necessary precautions against Covid-19.

“Personally no, I will not take the vaccine, hindi naman lahat makakakuha o madadapuan ng Covid. Kailangan lang mag-iingat sa bawat taong makakasalamuha at sa lugar na pupuntahan, at kumain ng healthy food,” Villar said.

But she said if the Hong Kong government would enact a law that would compel everyone to take the vaccine, or if the Consulate would support the inoculation drive, she said she’ll do it.

“Pag-aaraalan naman nila kung ito ay para sa kabutihan ng mga OFW,” she said.

Although she has doubts about the efficacy of the vaccines, she’s hopeful that they could bring life back to normal.

Another naysayer is Jeng Francisco, a domestic workers with driving duties who holds a post-graduate degree from the Philippines.

Francisco says she's not fully aware of the vaccines' side effects

“I do not plan to take the anti-Covid vaccine because first of all, I do not have trust in the  companies that are making them. In addition, I am not fully aware of all the possible side effects of the vaccine,” she said.

Even if she has no plans of recommending the vaccine to others, Francisco said everyone should make their own research and make their own decisions. Despite her reservations, she hopes the vaccines would succeed in helping people resume their normal lives.

One of those who are taking a wait-and-see approach is Jhic Dacio, the first OFW to become a fellow at Resolve Foundation.

“I think I have to observe first for the outcome from those vaccinated…or I will wait for the best one,” she said. “I don’t know yet if I will allow myself to be vaccinated.”

Dacio says she'll first observe the effects of the vaccine on other people 

As of now, she said, she has not seen any assurance that the vaccine is safe, and could help get people out of the pandemic.

Their diverse views reflect the overall sentiment in Hong Kong, as shown by a recent study that showed only 39% of Hongkongers were planning to get the jab.

Even among doctors, nurses and dentists, five percent said in a survey by a pro-government health care group that they won’t take the vaccine. But that could also be because of anti-China sentiments that had boiled over during the violent protests of 2019.

One thing is certain, though. If taking the vaccine could guarantee that residents are able to move freely again, or travelers could skip the mind-bending 21-day hotel quarantine currently in force in Hong Kong, then getting more people to go for the jab would be a far easier task.  

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DH who claims to have sold phones for her salary loses case

 By Vir B. Lumicao 

The Filipina told the Tribunal she had to sell phones and food to earn her salary

A Filipina helper who claimed to have been told to sell cellphones and cooked food to fellow workers so she could earn her salary has dropped her $13,000 claim against her employer after a Labour Tribunal officer said her cause was futile.

The claimant, M. Gabo, said she was now leaving everything to karma, or divine providence, after abandoning her case at the Labour Tribunal this afternoon, Feb 25.

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Gabo appeared before Presiding Officer Vivian Lee, with a claim totaling $13,352 that included wage in lieu of notice, $6,000 in salary cuts, $900 for a one-way air ticket and $2,800 arrears in wages.

The employer K.T. was absent from the hearing, but Lee said she would proceed to look at the merits of the claim.

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Lee asked the claimant what went on between her and the employer on Feb 16 last year, when they met and the defendant offered her a job.

The helper said the issue was complicated, because the employer made her sell cellphones to Filipina workers. But the tribunal officer cut her off and said the case was not complicated.

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Lee told Gabo she could not claim wage in lieu of notice because the employer had said in response to the claim that it was the helper who gave a month’s notice of termination a day before she was told to pack up and go on Aug 16 last year.

The presiding officer also said as for the annual leave claim, the defendant replied the helper still owed her $7,000 for a salary advance that Gabo took last year.

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The Filipina explained that the money was in fact payment for an iPhone 10 that her employer asked her to sell but which the buyer had returned. Gabo said she would return the phone to the employer if she was paid her claim.

On the helper’s claim of salary cuts, Lee said the employer told the Tribunal that she and Gabo had agreed on a salary of $3,000 because when the claimant joined the employer on Mar 16 last year, both of them were jobless.

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Lee said the Filipina did not submit her reply to the defendant’s counterclaims. Gabo said she had prepared photocopies of documents and Whatsapp messages she exchanged with her employer about her claims but did not include them in her submissions.

“I’m telling you, if your case goes to trial you will possibly lose because your claims have no legal basis,” Lee said. She said the only money she could get was the air fare.

Gabo was given 15 minutes to decide on whether to proceed. She called up somebody for advice and when she returned to the court, she said she was withdrawing her claim.

But minutes after she had signed a withdrawal statement and Lee had left the courtroom, the Filipina realized she had unintentionally dropped even her claim for air ticket.  

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BioNTech jabs delayed, 13 new Covid-19 cases recorded

By The SUN 

The BioNTech vaccine has an efficacy rate of up to 95%

The government has announced that the expected arrival of the BioNTech vaccine (co-produced for China with Fosun Pharma) today, Feb 25, has been held up by export documentation.

A government spokesman said one million doses of the vaccine developed by the German pharmaceutical company  have been procured by Hong Kong but are still going through export formalities. There is no indication of when they might arrive.

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 “The government will continue to follow up on the matter proactively, and start giving citizens the BioNTech jabs as soon as they arrive,” a government statement said.

The BioNTech jab has an efficacy rating of up to 95%, one of the highest among the  vaccines currently available, and was the first to be approved for use by the World Health Organization.

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However, it is hardest to store, as it could only be kept for up to six months, in ultra-cold freezer at temperatures of -80 degrees to  -60 degrees. It also needs to be shipped in a special thermal container.

In comparison, the vaccine from mainland firm Sinovac which is the first to be administered in Hong Kong, has an efficacy rate of up to 62% after the second shot, and could be stored in normal pharmaceutical freezers.

3 of the 12 new local cases had unknown sources

Meanwhile, the Centre for Health Protection issued a press release today, saying 13 new coronavirus cases were detected in the past 24 hours, with all but one locally acquired.

 

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The only imported case is a 45-year-old woman who arrived from Indonesia.

Of the 12 local cases, three were untraceable.

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They include a 34-year-old woman working as a sales person, who developed a fever on Friday, Feb 19, and tested positive after taking a test on Feb 23. She lives in Trackside Villas in Tai Po and last went to work on Feb.

Another unlinked case is a 62-year-old man who had a fever on Feb 22 and tested positive the next day. For unknown reason, the patient, who is a quality control worker, still went to work after he was found infected. He lives in Wah Kwai Estate in Aberdeen.

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The third untraceable case is a 16-year-old student who sought treatment on Feb 23 after feeling dizzy. He last went to class on the same day. The student lives in Ho Man Tin.

Included in the preliminary positive cases are five new additions to the cluster at Mr Ming’s Chinese Dining restaurant on the 1^st floor of K11 Musea in Tsim Sha Tsui, where six confirmed cases patients were reported yesterday.

Eight of the 11 cases had lunch at the restaurant on Feb 18 and 19, while the remaining three are staff members.

The CHP is currently investigating whether the infections are related, so as to stop the risk of a further spread of the virus.

There are now a total of 10,926 Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong, with 198 related deaths.

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Mandatory test for diners at plush TST mall restaurant after virus outbreak

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Six diners in this restaurant came down with the virus 

The Centre for Health Protection is investigating an outbreak of coronavirus infections in a Chinese restaurant at a posh shopping mall in Tsimshatsui after six diners who had lunch at the place on Feb 18 and 19 came down with the virus.

They were among 17 new Covid-19 cases reported today, Feb 24.

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Compulsory testing orders would be issued to those who visited Mr Ming’s Chinese Dining restaurant at K11 Musea on Salisbury Road on those dates, said CHP's Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan at the daily press briefing. 

Chuang, the head of CHP’s communicable disease branch, said health officials are still checking whether the infection came from person to person contact or through the virus suspended in the air after an infected person coughed.

Chuang says it's not clear how the virus spread among the diners

The first patient was infected after he lunched in the restaurant on Feb 18, the first day of the relaxation of the social distancing ban on gatherings of more than two persons.

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“We are still investigating the route of transmission, but most likely it is a person to person transmission. And among the six cases we have identified so far, five of them visited the restaurant around the same time between 1 and 2pm on the 19^th of February,” said Chuang.

She said although the patients came in three separate groups, it was possible there was a case in the restaurant who was the source of the infection.

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But she said there could be other factors, such as the staff, the environment or the toilet, from which the patients possibly got the infection.

“If there was a chain of transmission, we are not sure about the route of the transmission for the time being, it will be hard to find out the number of people per table to whom we will send the notification,” Chuang said.   

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She said the CHP would check with the restaurant if they have records of the clients on Feb 18 and afterwards. These would be sent compulsory testing orders through SMS or the Leave Home Safe app.

Of the confirmed cases today, one was imported, a 25-year-old woman who flew in from Dubai on Feb 22, and was found to carry the British variant of the virus.

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Six of the 16 local cases had unknown sources, said Chuang, and all were from the same block in a Shatin residential estate, the Carado Garden.

One of the six was a woman who works at a cake shop in Royal Plaza Hotel in Mongkok, where a male co-worker was confirmed positive on Tuesday.

The government issued a compulsory testing order today for Block 2 of Carado Garden following the rash of infections there. The same order was issued for eight other buildings after at least one infected case was recorded in their premises.

Among the preliminary positive cases was a 16-year-old student at Yu Chun Keung Memorial College who last attended class yesterday. The school has been ordered closed for two weeks for sanitation and disinfection, and all its students and teachers have also been told to undergo a Covid-19 test.

Dr Sara Ho, a chief manager at the Hospital Authority, said the HA receives 10,000 to 20,000 test kits each day, so the testing takes longer as each sample goes through a step by step process before the result is known.

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Filipina DH set to admit theft of employer’s $860k jewelry

By Vir B. Lumicao 

Emperador will plead guilty in District Court

A Filipina domestic helper will plead guilty in District Court on Apr 26 to a charge of stealing $860,000 worth of luxury watches, jewelry and gold bars from her employer in Homantin last August.

The date for Edarlyn Emperador’s plea-taking was proposed by her Legal Aid-appointed lawyer when she appeared today, Feb 24, before Judge Clement Lee.

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Lee told the 50-year-old Emperador to coordinate with her lawyer about her plea and ask him to prepare the case authorities for the sentencing.

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Emperador was arrested last Aug 7 after her female employer called the police when she discovered that her watches and jewelry had disappeared from a box in her closet where she had kept them.

Among the items Emperador is accused of stealing is a Rolex watch

The items that the helper is accused of stealing are a Rolex watch, three Patek Philippe watches, a white gold Piaget watch, a Roger Dubuis watch, one pair of Hermes earrings, a platinum Roger Dubuis necklace and gold bars.

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At a previous hearing, the court was told the employer was looking for her Rolex watch on the evening of Aug 3 when she noticed that her other watches and jewelry were gone.

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When confronted by the employer, Emperador reportedly admitted taking the missing valuables. The theft was reported to the police and the helper was arrested the next day.

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Investigators reportedly found pawnshop receipts for the missing items in the defendant’s belongings.

Judge Lee ordered Emperador remanded in custody and told her to return to the court on Apr 26.

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