MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 100,000 of the country’s seafarers have been vaccinated against COVID-19 so far, boosting their chances to be rehired by foreign shipping companies.
According to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), rehiring of Filipino seafarers is on the rise since their inclusion in the priority vaccination groups.
From around 470,000 Filipino seafarers deployed in 2019, only around 252,000 seafarers were able to leave last year due to the pandemic lockdown around the world.
“At the rate the national and local governments are vaccinating our seafarers, we are optimistic that we can reach our target number of Filipino seafarers completely vaccinated and ready for redeployment by the end of 2021,” TUCP party list Rep. Raymond Mendoza said.