The Department of Tourism on Tuesday said that more than 70 percent of tourism frontline workers in Metro Manila have been fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 as of August 9, 2021.
Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said most of the vaccinated workers who belong to the AI and A4 group are employed in DOT-accredited quarantine facilities, isolation facilities, multiple-use hotels, and staycation hotels.
“The vaccination of our tourism workers is a necessary step to keep them protected while doing their duty at the front lines. These figures are of high importance especially with the threat of the Delta variant,” Puyat said.
“We are confident that we will be able to vaccinate 100 percent of tourism workers from DOT-accredited accommodation establishments from Metro Manila before the end of the ECQ period,” she added.
Vaccinated tourism workers have reached 19,315 from a total of 26,745 workers from the 16 cities and one municipality in Metro Manila.
Composed of this are 15,020 of the 20,061 tourism frontliners in the A1 group or those working in quarantine, isolation and multiple-use hotels, and 4,295 out of the 6,684 tourism frontliners in the A4 group or those employed in regular/staycation hotels. The total number is based on the list submitted by 455 DOT-accredited accommodation establishments.
The National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 said in May that frontline tourism workers in isolation facilities or quarantine hotels would be part of the A1 priority group in the government’s vaccination program.
The DOT has also facilitated the vaccination of workers in DOT-accredited restaurants. As of August 9, 1,245 out of the 4,479 workers in the list submitted by 202 restaurants in Metro Manila have been vaccinated.
DOT-accredited accommodation establishments who have yet to submit their list of tourism workers for vaccination can get in touch with the DOT-NCR.