McDonald's Philippines to vaccinate restaurant crews for free

McDonald's Philippines has purchased close to 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca, as the fast-food chain operator said it plans to inoculate its employees for free.

According to Golden Arches Development Corp. (GADC), half of the vaccines will be donated to the government and administered by the Department of Health (DOH) in accordance with the government's allocation framework.

"With the health and safety of people being our top priority, we will be providing the COVID-19 vaccine for free for our frontliners — crew and managers, in all company-owned restaurants nationwide," said president and chief executive officer Kenneth Yang.

"It is our responsibility to keep our people safe so that our customers will be too," he said in an emailed statement.

GADC saw its net profit decline to P1.0 billion in the first nine months of 2020 from P1.2 billion previously, due to the lockdowns implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19. The company has yet to release full-year earnings for last year.

The company said only 38% of its stores remained operational when dine-in and large gatherings were not allowed. Some 95% of stores were eventually reopened as restrictions were eased, albeit at limited capacity.

The company ended September 2020 with a total of 658 restaurants across the company — five were opened, and 15 underperforming stores were closed during the third quarter. There were 10 openings and 21 closings during the nine-month period.

GADC is a subsidiary of Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), the holding company for Andrew Tan's businesses. Shares in AGI closed Tuesday at P10.34 apiece, up by 14 centavos or 1.37% from Monday's finish of P10.20 apiece.—AOL, GMA News