5,000 Myanmar sailors receive first dose of COVID-19 vaccines

The Myanmar Chinese Chamber of Commerence and Mee Pya Tike Social Welfare Organization jointly launched the first COVID-19 vaccination campaign for 5,000 Myanmar seamen at the designated places starting 1 September.
There are more than 100,000 registered seamen in the country. The vaccination operation was launched as the recruitment agencies prioritized those to get vaccinated, create job opportunities for international ships and control the spread of disease via vaccination.
“We purchased the vaccines for 5,000 sailors. Beginning 1 September, we vaccinated 2,500 at the vaccination sites for the first time. They must have two doses of vaccines and it costs K60,000 per person.
”Currently, of nearly 30,000 seamen, over 20,000 haven’t received the vaccines so far. The companies prioritize those to receive vaccines and if the seamen are fully vaccinated, they will be safe when they communicate at international ports. So, we started the operations,” said Captain U Sein Than from Mee Pya Tike Social Welfare Organization.
Arrangements will be also made to vaccinate 20,000 more seamen after the vaccination operations using the Sinopharm (Beijing) vaccines for 5,000 seamen. – Nyein Thu/(MNA)/GNLM