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New Zealand fires nine border workers who refused Covid vaccine | New Zealand | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/03/new-zealand-fires-nine-border-workers-who-refused-covid-vaccine
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New Zealand fires nine border workers who refused Covid vaccine. PM Jacinda Ardern had previously said workers who declined to be vaccinated would be moved to other roles
New Zealand’s customs agency has fired nine border workers who refused to get the Covid-19 vaccine. The country has required all frontline border workers to be vaccinated by the end of April.In February, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the government would not be making the vaccine compulsory for frontline staff, and that those who declined the vaccine would be moved into backroom roles.But no other work could be found to redeploy the nine workers who were in fixed term employment at the maritime border, Jacinda Funnell, Customs’ deputy chief executive for people and capability, said.“We regret that these individuals have had to leave employment, and understand what a difficult situation this is for them,” Funnell said in a statement. She said about 95% of Customs’ frontline staff who were required to be vaccinated had received their first dose, and 85% had received the second dose of the vaccine. Customs had been discussing options with staff since the beginning of March, she said, and had told them that “options for redeployment were very limited due to no other Customs functions existing in the area”. She said the agency had also explored redeployment options across the wider public service.
A Ministry of Health order made under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act has made it a legal requirement for anyone working in high-risk border environments to be vaccinated by the 1 May deadline.In April, the New Zealand Defence Force threatened to fire service members who refused to get a Covid-19 vaccination.In correspondence to staff published by RNZ, the chief of Defence Force, Air Marshal Kevin Short, said: “Electing to not meet the baseline immunisation readiness criteria will result in a review of an individual’s future service.”New Zealand’s unions have spoken out against the firing of workers who decline the vaccine, saying they should be redeployed instead. E tū union has said in their member FAQs: “We do not support mandatory vaccination and will not tolerate discrimination against workers who choose not to vaccinate.” The Public Service Association union has said unvaccinated border staff “should be redeployed, and their employment rights must be protected”.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#sante#vaccination#fonctionnaire#douanier#droit#politiquesante#santepublique

Hong Kong plan to force Covid vaccines on foreign domestic workers sparks alarm | Hong Kong | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/03/hong-kong-plan-to-force-covid-vaccines-on-foreign-domestic-workers-spar
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Hong Kong plan to force Covid vaccines on foreign domestic workers sparks alarm. Authorities accused of ‘blackmailing’ workers over plan to make vaccine a condition of getting a job

Hong Kong’s government has sparked discrimination concerns over plans to force hundreds of thousands of foreign domestic workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or face losing their job. Authorities have embarked on mass mandatory testing of the city’s 370,000 domestic workers after a more infectious strain was detected in the community, and flagged plans for compulsory vaccinations.Under the measures, workers would need to be vaccinated before their contracts could be renewed, and any incoming worker would be required to have the vaccination to enter Hong Kong.
Hong Kong passes law that can stop people leaving
The vast majority of Hong Kong’s domestic workers are migrant workers, primarily from the Philippines and Indonesia, and no other foreign workforce has been singled out for mandatory vaccines, drawing criticism from Philippines officials. The country’s foreign affairs secretary, Teddy Locsin Jr, praised Hong Kong’s provision of free vaccines to domestic workers, but said singling them out to make it mandatory “smacks of discrimination”.“If it is a special favour, it is unfair to other nationalities. Hong Kong can do better than that,” he said.Eman Villanueva, spokesperson for the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body, said the enforced testing and proposed vaccinations were “discrimination and social exclusion of domestic workers at its worst”, and accused the government of “blackmailing” workers by tying vaccines to contracts.“They did not respond like this when there were outbreaks in several fitness gyms and dance studios, restaurants, banks, etc,” he said in an opinion piece for Stand News. “It’s because to them we are easy targets and scapegoats. It’s because they know we don’t have much choice but to follow their discriminatory, illogical, and unreasonable impositions or end up jobless.”
The comments by Locsin echoed those by the Philippines consul general, Raly Tejada, who said his office had been very supportive of Hong Kong’s free vaccine programme, but if it was to become mandatory for work contracts then it should be non-discriminatory and include “other non-resident workers who are similarly situated so that there is no feeling of being singled out”.In explaining the new rules, Hong Kong’s minister for labour, Dr Law Chi-kwong, said the “high risk group” mainly spent their holidays with friends, which could lead to cross-family infections. The migrant workers, who usually travel alone to Hong Kong, have one day off a week and frequently gather in public places to socialise away from the home where they work.On Sunday the Hong Kong government said the labour department was “working out the relevant details” on mandatory vaccines. It said its mandatory testing programme did not discriminate based on race or status, but did not address accusations that its plans for mandatory vaccines were.It appealed to all workers to get their vaccines voluntarily “to protect their own health and that of their employers’ family and others, and to avoid being subject to any regular testing in the future”.
It also urged employers to encourage their workers and to give them sufficient rest after getting vaccinated. Those who could not be vaccinated for health reasons could get an exemption, it added.On Sunday health authorities reported the second consecutive day of no community transmission cases detected. There had been about 20 in the past two weeks.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#indonesie#philippines#sante#vaccination#travailleurmigrant#domestique#politiquesante#inclusion

EU plans to reopen to fully Covid-vaccinated foreign tourists from June | European Union | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/03/eu-plans-to-reopen-to-fully-covid-vaccinated-foreign-tourists-from-june
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EU plans to reopen to fully Covid-vaccinated foreign tourists from June
Holidaymakers would also be welcome from countries with low case rates but bloc would retain ‘emergency brake’
The EU would reopen to holidaymakers from countries with low Covid infection rates such as the UK, and to anyone who has been fully vaccinated, by the start of June under a European Commission plan.With the rate of vaccination rising “dramatically” in EU member states, commission officials said it was time to relax rules on non-essential travel while legislating to provide for powers to pull an “emergency brake” if necessary.EU borders would be reopened at the latest by the start of June, officials said, with agreement due to be sought from member states during meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday.The existing requirement to undergo Covid testing before or after arrival or to quarantine could still be enforced by member states but EU officials added that “hopefully with the situation improving and the vaccination rate immensely picking up we will also see a gradual phasing out of these additional conditions”.
Tight restrictions on those wishing to travel into the EU have been in force since last year. The commission’s announcement will come as welcome news to people in the UK hoping to take a European summer holiday.Under the UK government’s plan to relax coronavirus restrictions, international travel for leisure purposes could resume from 17 May. A traffic light system is expected to be unveiled this week under which countries will be added to green, amber and red lists, with different rules regarding issues such as quarantine of returning travellers for each list.Under the commission’s proposals, member states would allow travel into the EU of those people who had received, at least 14 days before arrival, the final dose of an authorised vaccine.Even those who have not been fully vaccinated will be allowed into the EU if they are coming from a country with a “good epidemiological situation”.As it stands, only seven countries worldwide are on a green list allowing for non-essential travel. The commission is proposing to increase the threshold of 14-day cumulative Covid-19 case notification rate from 25 to 100. The UK’s rate is about 23.2 per 100,000 people.A senior official said the UK could be added to the green list but that it would depend on a reciprocal willingness to open its borders to all EU citizens. “The figures for the UK are good,” the EU official said. “Those vaccinated in the UK will be eligible to travel to the EU but [we are are] mindful of other aspects: reciprocity. It is still a principle under this new recommendation.”The commission is proposing, however, an emergency brake. When the epidemiological situation of a non-EU country worsens quickly and in particular if a variant of concern or interest is detected, a member state will be able to “urgently and temporarily suspend all inbound travel by non-EU citizens resident in such a country”.The only exceptions would be healthcare professionals, transport personnel, diplomats, transit passengers, those travelling for imperative family reasons, seafarers, and people in need of international protection or for other humanitarian reasons. They would instead be subject to strict testing and quarantine arrangements even if they had been vaccinated.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#UE#passeportvaccinal#sante#frontiere#circulation#tauxdincidence