The government may consider easing the capacity limits on workplaces once more workers get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), according to a Palace official.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) is expected to look into the micro herd immunity proposal once Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion sends a formal letter on the matter.
Concepcion earlier urged the government to let business establishments to operate at full capacity once they attain the level of "micro" herd immunity from COVID-19.
A micro herd immunity in malls, factories and workplaces, Concepcion suggested, could be attained by vaccinating around 80 percent of their workforce in a bid to boost the country's economic recovery from the pandemic. He said “safe spaces” could be established once the vaccination target is reached in offices, factories, and other buildings.
"Wala pa pong napag-usapan sa IATF pero kung talagang umabot tayo doon sa sinasabi ni Joey Concepcion na 80 percent na ang bakunahan sa isang (The IATF has not yet discussed the matter but if we reach, as PA Joey Concepcion said, 80 percent vaccination in a) business establishment, I am sure the IATF will consider this in due course," Roque said during a televised press briefing Thursday, July 15 when asked about the proposed expansion of operating capacity of businesses with herd immunity.
"Hindi ko lang alam kung may (I don't know if there are) 80 percent na vaccinated employees in any establishment. But needless to say, all that PA Concepcion is write a formal letter to IATF to consider adopting this rule at pakikinggan naman 'yan (and that will be heard)," he said.
Concepcion, in a recent online forum with government and business leaders, raised his proposal on higher business capacity operation if 80 percent of the employees in the workplace have been inoculated against COVID-19.
He expressed confidence that attaining vaccination goal in the workplaces could help facilitate the safe reopening of the local economy after the pandemic affected lives and livelihoods in the past several months.
"That means herd immunity is achieved in that group, so why don’t we increase their capacity?” Concepcion said.
“At 80 percent vaccination for an office, for example, it may be possible to raise capacity to 100 percent from the present 50 percent,” he added.
The government has retained community quarantine levels in the country to stem the spread of the new coronavirus variants. Certain businesses such as tourism, dining in restaurants, and amusement industries have been allowed partial operations as part of the government's precaution against the COVID-19 transmission.