The proposal to include BPO frontline workers in the A4 cluster has been given the green light, the Trade Department said in a separate statement.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 21) — Liquefied petroleum gas dealers, retailers and attendants are now under the A4 priority group in the list of COVID-19 vaccine beneficiaries, presidential spokesman Harry Roque announced Friday.
“Ang [The] liquefied petroleum gas dealers, retailers, and attendants ay kasama sa [now form part of the] approved priority group A4.2 for vaccine deployment sa ilalim ng [under the] retail trade operators and frontliners,” Roque said in a briefing.
Roque also said the Inter-Agency Task Force technical working group recommended the inclusion of more groups.
“Ang frontline employees ng business process outsourcing industry at frontline employees ng Commission on Elections ay inirekomenda sa iNITAG na mapasama sa priority group A4,” he said in a briefing. iNITAG is the Interim National Immunization Technical Advisory Group.
[Translation: The frontline employees from business process outsourcing industry and the frontline employees from the Commission on Elections have been recommended to the iNITAG be part of priority group A4.]
The technical working group also proposed priority vaccination of athletes, coaches, delegates, and officials bound for the Tokyo Olympics and Southeast Asian Games.
The government is eyeing to begin by the end of May or early June inoculating those in the A4 and A5 cluster or the indigents, with initial nine areas considered as COVID-19 hotspots, officials said. They will be inoculated alongside health care workers, the elderly, and people with comorbidities.
The nine focus areas are Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Pampanga, Batangas, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao.
