The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), made arrangements on Wednesday, July 28 for prospective overseas workers to get vaccinated against Covid. The vaccination centre was administering Pfizer vaccines to the prospective foreign workers.
Countries in the Middle East including those in the Gulf region have so far approved Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna vaccine and the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccines for arriving workers.
The Middle East is the home to more than one million out of the 1.5 million Lankan overseas workers in the globe.
An official from the Saudi government said that only those expatriates, who have been fully vaccinated with Coronavirus vaccines approved in the Kingdom will be allowed to enter the country.
The SLBFE arranged for the vaccination to be carried out at the Army Hospital in Narahenpita for the prospective foreign workers. The beneficiaries were asked to come with their letters of appointment from the foreign employers or letters from the local job agents.
After the vaccination at the centre, the people were asked to report to the same center for their second jab on August 28.
Speaking to the Daily News, a recruiting agent who wishes to remain anonymous said those workers who are traveling without the required quarantine certificate will be asked to undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine at their own expense.
“In case of deployment of housemaids, the foreign sponsors will bear the cost of quarantine services, while the selected employees in other sectors have to pay for the quarantine which would cost them Rs 150,000 each,” the agent said.