Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat has welcomed the inclusion of frontline tourism workers in in the A1 priority group of the national vaccination program.
This means there would be no more waiting for the particular sector to get their coronavirus disease (COVID-19) jabs.
"We express our deepest gratitude to Secretary Galvez and the NTF . Most of our tourism workers were reporting for work even at the onset of the pandemic while most of the cities and municipalities were still under an Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ)," Puyat said in a statement Friday, May 28.
"It is high time that we protect our tourism frontliners knowing that they are risking their lives each time they show up in the designated quarantine and isolation hotels. This move shows the government's commitment to protect them," she added.
Puyat further said that the NTF's move, which the DOT previously requested, would greatly benefit the tourism industry and its stakeholders.
"Not only will this decision help ensure the survival of the tourism industry; this will also hasten the country’s economic recovery," the DOT chief said.
Medical frontliners (A1 priority group) were the first to be vaccinated in the government’s vaccination program, followed by seniors (A2) and persons with comorbidities (A3). Vaccination for the A4 priority group, a larger group which includes other tourism frontliners, is expected to start next month.
Early this year, the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved the DOT’s proposal to include more tourism workers under A4, in addition to those working in quarantine hotels and airports. Those under A4 include workers from the transport sector and the food, restaurant and accommodation enterprises.
A total of 2,507 quarantine hotel employees nationwide have been successfully inoculated against COVID-19 so far.