Philippines to give COVID-19 vaccines to minimum wage earners and OFWs

Philippines’ Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) has approved the request of the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) for 5,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine to be used during the symbolic inoculation ceremony of minimum wage workers and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) under Priority Group A4 on May 1, 2021, according to Presidential spokesman Harry Roque. 

Roque added the list of people to be inoculated, to be prepared by the labour ministry, must reflect an “equitable representation of the labour sector” during the Labour Day ceremony. 

DOLE’s request for the ceremonial vaccination was granted “as tribute to the workers” who are in the priority group A4. 

The IATF has included the frontliners working in Congress as among the priority vaccine beneficiaries under the A4 group. The A4 priority group now includes essential frontliners, including transport workers, vendors, media workers, and government personnel. 

Roque said, “The IATF likewise considered frontliners of the Congress of the Philippines to be placed under Priority Group A4 of the National COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan in recognition of their critical and dispensable role in our fight against the coronavirus pandemic.”  

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So far, the free-of-charge vaccination programme in the country started off with health workers (A1), seniors (A2), and those with comorbidities (A3). More than a million Filipinos have already received the first shot of the vaccines since the inoculation drive began in early March. 

The vaccination of the priority group A4 is expected to start next month, according to Manila Bulletin