ILOILO CITY – An additional 3,500 tourism workers at world-famous Boracay Island have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
“I am very happy to see that more and more tourism workers in Boracay are getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and are able to return to their livelihood with confidence,” said Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
The additional 3,500 tourism workers who got vaccinated Monday, July 26, at CityMall Boracay are among the target 6,500 tourism workers who have been vaccinated at the country’s most popular beach destination.
The DOT in partnership with the national government’s COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and the local government of Malay town, Aklan province is continuing the vaccination program that started last July 7.
The DOT is aiming to vaccinate an estimated 11,620 tourism workers of Boracay as tourist arrivals are picking up as travel restrictions have been eased.
Included are workers in hotels, resorts, inns, restaurants, dive shops, spas, travel and tours companies, souvenir shops, ports, or transportation sector.
The COVID-19 vaccination program in Boracay also covers government frontline workers including tourist police, immigration staff, and the government’s task force for Boracay’s rehabilitation.
Aside from the COVID-19 vaccines distributed by the national government, there’s also the vaccine donation from private corporations.
Filinvest Development Corporation’s Crimson Resort and Spa Boracay donated 5,000 COVID-19 vaccines.
Megaworld Corporation’s Belmont Hotel Boracay and Savoy Hotel Boracay are also pledging to donate an additional 5,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
“We in the DOT remain grateful to all of our partners, including the private sector,” Puyat added.