A proposed "micro-herd immunity" in malls and other workplaces will be discussed by the private sector with the national government this week.

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion is set to spearhead a virtual town hall meeting on the private sector-led roadmap for economic recovery, including the proposal to establish "safe spaces" at work, on Friday, July 9.

Government officials, business leaders, and medical experts are expected to attend the virtual assembly organized by Concepcion, also Go Negosyo founder. The forum carries the theme “How to Achieve a Merry Christmas and Better New Year 2022.”

“We will be discussing several proposals and approaches such as the concept of 'Micro-Herd Immunity' whereby 'Safe Spaces' will be implemented among our establishments like malls, office buildings, and factories where we have a better control," Concepcion said in a statement July 7.

"This is an approach that would enable us to achieve 'micro-herd immunity' by vaccinating 80% of our employees to make our establishments safe spaces," he said.

Once majority of the workforce has been vaccinated, the business community is trying to convince the government to expand the operational capacity of offices and other establishments to spur economic activities.

"In an establishment that becomes a safe space, is it suggested that its operational capacity shall be back from the current 50% to close to full capacity," Concepcion said.

On the proposed economic recovery roadmap, Concepcion said they intend to present how the economy could grow once population protection and herd immunity would be attained hopefully before the end of the year.

"If we hit that, then there's a higher chance for us to fully open the economy and we'll definitely have a merrier Christmas and a better New Year 2022," he said.

Among those expected to the upcoming webinar are Health Secretary Franciso Duque III and Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles. The two Cabinet members are part of the government task force in charge of addressing the pandemic.

The first part of the town hall meeting will focus on “The Road Towards Greater Mobility: Lessons from Across the Globe" while the second forum will dwell on “How Can We Better Prepare for Recovery? Responding to the Perspectives on Greater Mobility.” More than 3,000 people from business, academe, and other communities are expected to attend the webinar.

“We want this town hall webinar to be the start of a series of webinars that would lay out the various asks of the private sector. Through this approach, we could continue the exchange on how we can open the economy in the safest way possible and see how experts from the public and the private sector evaluate these suggestions," Concepcion said.

"Public-private partnership has sustained us throughout this pandemic, and I think that it will be the same approach that would save us from it,” he added.