More than half of the 11,620 tourism workers on the world-famous Boracay Island will get fully vaccinated soon from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
This, after Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat bared Tuesday, July 27 that they've received an additional 10,000 doses of Sinovac anti-COVID jabs to be used on workers of the island.
Puyat said that of the 10,000 shots, around 3,000 doses will be administered as second doses for the 3,000 local tourism workers who benefitted from the initial round of vaccinations earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the remaining 7,000 doses will be allocated as the first and second doses for another 3,500 Boracay tourism workers. This means that there are currently enough jabs to fully inoculate 6,500 workers on the island.
“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. We in the DOT remain grateful to all of our partners, including the private sector,” Puyat said in a statement.
Puyat stressed that the DOT’s goal is to vaccinate all 11,620 tourism workers on the island, especially with the holiday season fast approaching. Incidentally, the agency says that the number of domestic visitors is already "picking up".
Based on local government data, a total of 29,660 tourists arrived in Boracay through Caticlan from July 1 to 25, with 65.08 percent or 19,305 arrivals coming from the National Capital Region (NCR). This was followed by visitors from Region 4A (Calabarzon) with 6,374 tourists, and Region 3 (Central Luzon) with 2,213.
Meanwhile, Puyat thanked the Filinvest Hospitality through Crimson Resort and Spa Boracay for donating 5,000 vaccine doses to support the inoculation program.
The Megaworld Corporation, through the Belmont Hotel Boracay and Savoy Hotel Boracay, have pledged to donate an additional 5,000 doses of vaccines.