Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 11) — Local and foreign tourists on Boracay Island can enjoy free COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said on Friday.
Tourists can avail of the free doses in a drug store, the secretary added.
“Lahat ng turista na pupunta dito, foreigner o domestic, ay libre ang booster shot dito sa Watsons,” she said during the launch of the Resbakuna sa Botika program in Boracay.
[Translation: All tourists coming to Boracay, foreigner or domestic, can get free booster shot here in Watsons.]
The news comes as the local government rolls out COVID-19 vaccines in pharmacies and begins its vaccine drive for children.
“Ang sinasabi ng foreigners, ang gusto nila is that madali raw mag-travel dito and they feel safe kasi they found out about the vaccination rate at nagbu-booster na tayo,” Puyat said.
[Translation: Foreigners have said what they like about traveling to the Philippines is that it’s easy and that they feel safe because they found out about the vaccination rate and the booster drive.]
Puyat noted that as of Feb. 10, a total of 17,910 or 102.51% of the targeted population of tourism workers on the island have been fully immunized against COVID-19. Meanwhile, 2,671 or 15.29% have received their boosters.
On Wednesday, the country reopened its borders to fully vaccinated foreign travelers, requiring them to only present proof of vaccination, negative RT-PCR tests, and outbound tickets.
According to the Bureau of Immigration, foreign nationals made up a third of the international travelers who arrived in the country since Wednesday. The bureau recorded about 8,000 arrivals, of which about “27 to 30%” were foreigners.
