Around 50k to 60k OFWs vaccinated against COVID-19 so far — Bello

Around 50,000 to 60,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have already received jabs of COVID-19 vaccines, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Thursday.

Bello said the figure came from reports of OFWs who decided against returning to the Philippines after being vaccinated in their host countries.

“Hindi na sila magpapa-repatriate dahil nabakunahan na sila. So there were about more or less 50,000 to 60,000 of our countrymen na nabakunahan na,” Bello said at the Laging Handa briefing.

There are 13,897 Filipinos who contracted COVID-19 abroad, including 945 deaths, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.

Overseas Workers Welfare Administration Hans Leo Cacdac earlier said around 80,000 OFWs might return to the Philippines in the first half of 2021 in light of the global health crisis. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News