Government and private workers who delay or refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19 can report for work and will not be terminated but will be required to undergo regular RT-PCR or antigen tests at their own expense, the Palace said Friday.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said this will encourage workers to get the jab, as there are sufficient supplies of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.
In a statement, the Palace official said that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) approved measures to employ a whole-of-government solution to increase demand for COVID-19 vaccination beginning Dec. 1, 2021.
“In areas where there are sufficient supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, vaccination of eligible employees tasked to do on-site work shall be required by all establishments and employers in the public and private sector,” Roque said.
“Eligible employees who remain to be unvaccinated may not be terminated but they shall be required to undergo regular RT-PCR testing, or antigen tests, at their own expense,” he added.
Public transportation services in the road, rail, maritime, and aviation sectors will require all their eligible workers to be fully vaccinated as a condition to continue their operations.
Public and private establishments may validly refuse entry or deny service to individuals who remain unvaccinated, or are merely partially vaccinated, despite being eligible for vaccination, Roque said.
Frontline and emergency services, on the other hand, shall continue to render assistance to all persons, regardless of vaccination status.
To ramp up demand for vaccination, local government units (LGUs) are enjoined to issue orders or ordinances providing incentives for fully vaccinated individuals, and for business establishments to require proof of vaccination before individuals may undertake or qualify for certain activities.
Meanwhile, all workers to be vaccinated during work hours shall not be considered absent upon sufficient proof of a confirmed vaccination schedule.
Some 866,970 doses of government-procured Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Thursday night, bringing to 121,979,340 the total number of COVID-19 jabs delivered to the country since February.
With the government’s ramped up vaccination program, National Task Force against COVID-19 medical consultant Dr. Ma. Paz Corrales urged Filipinos to get inoculated, saying this will be the key in reviving the economy.
“It’s incredibly important that the Philippines procure safe and effective doses of vaccines, whether that's from the COVAX facility, bilateral donations or private procurement like this case,” said John Avrett, US Embassy foreign service officer, following the shipment's arrival at the airport.
“We applaud the Philippine efforts to vaccinate its people,” Avrett added.
A total of 19,094,400 Pfizer doses purchased by the Philippine government have so far been delivered as part of the 40 million doses the country has secured from the American pharmaceutical firm.
The country has also received a total of 14.7 million donated Pfizer doses from the COVAX facility. (See full story online at manilastandard.net)
Meanwhile, the Manila International Airport Authority announced that a shipment of 1,279,000 doses of Moderna vaccines, also from the United States, is scheduled to arrive at the airport this (Saturday) morning.
Also on Friday, the government asked local officials to find ways of securing much-needed ancillary supplies to ensure the unhampered rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination program.
National Task Force against COVID 19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said there is an ongoing ‘global shortage’ of syringes and needles used in administering vaccines, especially the 0.3ml variety, which is used specifically for the Pfizer-BioNTech brand.
National Vaccination Operations Center head and Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje earlier said the DOH has procured 44 million 0.3ml syringes through UNICEF.
However, Cabotaje said the deliveries of these syringes have been delayed due to the shortage of supply in the global market.
She said, however, there are about 5.9 million syringes that are compatible with most vaccine brands and “are available in warehouses.”
The vaccine czar emphasized that local government units must always have adequate ancillary supplies needed for their vaccination drive such as syringes, cotton and alcohol.
Galvez underscored that apart from securing these ancillary supplies, LGUs must also take the lead and employ various ways to encourage their constituents to get vaccinated especially 4Ps beneficiaries.
