More vaccines allocated for selected workers in the Philippines

The Philippines has allocated additional vaccines for workers in the manufacturing and construction industries. 

Altogether, 452,000 doses would be allocated for factory workers in the regions of Calabarzon, Central Luzon and Central Visayas, and for construction workers in the National Capital Region, said Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello III, reports Philstar Global. 

“We believe doing this would speed up economic recovery,” he said, acknowledging challenges in acquiring sufficient vaccine supply and adding that it is necessary to allocate a portion for workers contributing to the economy. 

Earlier this month, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the country exited recession in the second quarter of the year and posted an 11.8% y-o-y growth in GDP in Q22021. 

Bello said that the growth emphasises the need to inoculate active members of the economy, and “is particularly true to the manufacturing and construction sectors that contributed much to that growth”.

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The Philippines is tackling its highest surge in COVID-19 cases, with total cases passing the 1.9 million mark after 17,477 more people tested positive on Thursday. The government is currently looking to ramp up its vaccination of priority groups, which include workers in essential industries.