IATF approved priority group A4 for COVID-19 vaccination —Roque

The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on Emerging Infectious Diseases approved on Thursday the list of sectors included in the Priority Group A4 of the government’s COVID-19 vaccination plan, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque announced on Friday.

According to Roque, the list includes people in the sectors and industries of transportation, market, manufacturing, government services, hotels, education, and media, among others.

Church leaders and officials, security personnel in priority industries and sectors, personnel of telecoms, cable, internet providers, electricity distribution, and water distribution utilities are also included.

Also included in this priority group are workers in law, justice, security, protection sectors, and overseas Filipino workers, including those scheduled for deployment within two months.

The complete list of Priority Group A4 is as follows:

• commuter transport (land, air, and sea), including logistics
• public and private wet and dry market vendors
• frontline workers in groceries, supermarkets, delivery services
• workers in manufacturing for food, beverage, medical and pharmaceutical products
• frontline workers in food retail, including food service delivery
• frontline workers in private and government financial services
• frontline workers in hotels and accommodation establishments
• priests, rabbis, imams, and other religious leaders
• security guards/ personnel assigned in offices, agencies, and organizations identified in the list of priority industries/sectors
• frontline workers in private and government news media
• customer-facing personnel of telecoms, cable and internet service providers, electricity distribution and water distribution utilities
• frontline personnel in basic education and higher education institutions and agencies
• overseas Filipino workers, including those scheduled for deployment within two months
• frontline workers in law/justice, security, and social protection sectors
• frontline government workers engaged in the operations of government transport system, quarantine inspection; worker safety inspection and other COVID-19 response activities
• frontline government workers in charge of tax collection, assessment of businesses for incentives, election, national ID, data collection personnel
• diplomatic community and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) personnel in consular operations
• Department of Public Works and Highways personnel in charge of monitoring government infrastructure projects

Below is the priority groups that have received vaccines so far:

• A1: Frontline workers in health facilities both national and local, private and public, health professionals and non-professionals like students, nursing aides, janitors, barangay health workers, etc.;
• A2: Senior citizens aged 60 years old and above;
• A3: Persons with comorbidities

Likewise, Roque said the IATF also approved the continuation of the training of the national athletes at the Olympic Training Bubble in Calamba, Laguna, as well as the extension of the temporary suspension of foreign nationals until April 30.

Foreign nationals with valid entry exemption documents duly issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) prior to March 22 will be allowed entry to the Philippines, he added.

In the same announcement, Roque also said the IATF has approved the extension of the risk-level classification of Quirino province under modified enhanced community quarantine until April 30. 

Over a million people in the Philippines have received either the Sinovac or AstraZeneca vaccine as of April 13.

The country has logged 904,285 COVID-19 cases with 705,164 recoveries and 15,594 deaths as of Thursday afternoon.   —KBK, GMA News