Over 260,000 economic zone workers in the Visayas will receive coronavirus disease vaccines, the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas said yesterday.
Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino gave the assurance in a statement yesterday after a discussion with Philippine Economic Zone Authority director general Charito Plaza recently.
Dino said his office, together with the Project Balik Buhay, will help facilitate the Covid-19 vaccination of employees in the Visayas economic zones in response to the request of Plaza.
Plaza visited Dino to personally hand over her letter-request, where she stated that there is a total of 265,797 ecozone workers in the Visayas.
“We have a total of 769 locator enterprises, with 51 locator enterprises in Region 6, 704 in Region 7, and 14 in Region 8,” her letter showed.
Central Visayas has the largest number of ecozone workers with 221,374 direct workers, followed by 38,270 employees in Western Visayas, and 6,153 in Eastern Visayas.
“It is high time that we pay back our investors a post-pandemic economic relief recovery platform,” Plaza said.
Dino said OPAV and the PBB have been pushing for a safe economic reopening in Cebu City.
He said they will partner with the different chambers of commerce in the Visayas for the vaccination plan of ecozone employees.
The PBB is an initiative of OPAV, local government units, Department of Health-Region 7, and the private sector that aims to facilitate the gradual reopening of communities.
The PBB has also been helping facilitate the national vaccination program through its private sector-led vaccination centers set up in Cebu, in support of the national government’s goal of achieving a safe, fast, and successful implementation of the rollout in the Visayas.
“This program is free of charge and aside from the vaccines and medical personnel to be provided by the DOH, all operating expenses incurred in these PBB private sector vaccination centers will be shouldered and donated by the private sector, at no cost to the government nor to the Cebuanos availing of their services,” the PBB said in its website.*PNA
