The government will administer 5,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines to workers during the observance of Labor Day on May 1.
The planned vaccination of minimum wage earners and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) has been given the green light by the government pandemic task force, according to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque.
"The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, approved the request of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for 5,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be used during the symbolic inoculation ceremony of minimum wage workers and overseas Filipino workers under Priority Group A4 on May 1, 2021," Roque said in a statement Tuesday.
He said the labor department must craft a master list "to ensure the equitable representation of the labor sector" during the May 1 ceremony.
Under IATF Resolution No. 112, the labor department's request was granted "as tribute to the workers" under priority group A4.
Meantime, the task force has included the frontliners working in Congress as among the priority vaccine beneficiaries under the A4 group.The A4 priority group is composed of essential frontliners including transport workers, vendors, media workers, and government personnel.
"The IATF likewise considered frontliners of the Congress of the Philippines to be placed under Priority Group A4 of the National COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan in recognition of their critical and dispensable role in our fight against the coronavirus pandemic," Roque said.
The government has so far prioritized health workers (A1), seniors (A2), and those with comorbidities (A3) in the free inoculation drive. More than a million Filipinos have already received the first shot of the vaccines since the immunization drive began in early March. As more vaccine supplies are expected to arrive in the country, the vaccination of the A4 priority group is expected to commence next month.
The A4 priority group includes the following:
-Commuter transport (land, air, and sea), including logistics
-Public and private wet and dry market vendors
-Frontline workers in groceries, supermarkets, delivery services
-Workers in manufacturing for food, beverage, medical and pharmaceutical products
-Frontline workers in food retail, including food service delivery
-Frontline workers in private and government financial services
-Frontline workers in hotels and accommodation establishment
-Priests, rabbis, imams, and other religious leaders
-Security guards/ personnel assigned in offices, agencies, and organizations identified in the list of priority industries/sectors
-Frontline workers in private and government news media
-Customer-facing personnel of telecoms, cable and internet service providers, electricity distribution and water distribution utilities
-Frontline personnel in basic education and higher education institutions and agencies
-Overseas Filipino workers, including those scheduled for deployment within two months
-Frontline workers in law/justice, security, and social protection sectors
-Frontline government workers engaged in the operations of the government transport system, quarantine inspection
-Worker safety inspection and other COVID-19 response activities
-Frontline government workers in charge of tax collection, assessment of businesses for incentives, election, national ID, data collection personnel
-Diplomatic community and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) personnel in consular operations
-Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) personnel in charge of monitoring government infrastructure projects