By Ferdinand Patinio
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is pushing for the inclusion of people working from home in the government’s A4 (front-liners in essential sectors) vaccination priority listing.
“That is my advocacy, (to include those who are working from home). Work-from-home workers are included in A4. It does not mean that if they are working from home they no longer visit their office. They also go there, but most of the time they are at home,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in Tuesday’s (June 1) Laging Handa briefing.
Bello said the measure will benefit around 16,000 workers in Metro Manila who are working from home.
The government is set to start this month the vaccination of the A4 priority group.
Based on Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases Resolution No. 117, those who will receive the vaccine are private sector workers required to be physically present at their workplace outside their residences; government employees, including those in government-owned and -controlled corporations and local government units, and informal sector workers; self-employed professionals who may be required to work outside their residences, and those working in private households.
The Philippines has so far administered more than five million COVID-19 vaccine doses since it started its inoculation drive in March.
So far, four vaccine brands are available in the country — Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, and Pfizer. (PNA) -jlo
