SM Investments announces free vaccination vs. COVID-19 for its workers

Sy-led conglomerate SM Investments Corp. on Wednesday announced it will be vaccinating against COVID-19 all its employees for free within this year as part of its pandemic strategy.

At the company’s virtual annual stockholders meeting, SM president and CEO Frederic DyBuncio said: “To help with overall recovery efforts, we are rolling out vaccination to thousands of employees across the group for free within the year once supply is available.”

DyBuncio added that SM will continue to offer its facilities as testing and vaccination venues.

Vaccination sites are located in SM malls in Pulilan, Olongapo, Marilao, Cabanatuan, Cauayan, Tuguegarao, Masinag, San Mateo, Paranaque, Muntinlupa, Antipolo, North EDSA, Taguig, Trece Martires, Rosario, Calamba, San Pablo, Lemery, Lipa, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Ormoc, Butuan, and General Santos with more to be added soon.

Together with the Philippine Red Cross (PRC), SM said saliva RT-PCR testing was made accessible in more than 10 malls nationwide.

SM has also donated about 2,000 mattresses and other essentials to PRC’s isolation wards for COVID-19 patients in various universities in the National Capital Region.

This is in addition to converting the Mall of Asia Arena into a mega testing center to boost the government’s testing capacity.

“These will help to build the confidence that our consumer-led economy urgently needs. The key is to continue to innovate and operate safely, which we have done and continue to do. We continue to respond and adapt to changing customer needs and touch points to serve our customers better,” DyBuncio said.

He added that the SM group has so far provided over P30 billion in overall support in the form of waivers, payments, and donations.

The conglomerate also provided loan extensions on top of group-wide donations and on-the-ground relief efforts for host communities during the pandemic.

“Our collective resilience is necessary to safeguard our long-term growth and to ensure we can continue to promote responsible development nationwide,” DyBuncio said.—AOL, GMA News