Poe: PUV drivers should not be left behind in COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Senator Grace Poe on Thursday made a plea not to leave behind public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers in the COVID-19 vaccination program of the national government.

Poe stressed that the PUV drivers are still weighed down by the lockdown imposed by the government due to the pandemic.

“Napag-iwanan na nga sa ayuda, 'wag na natin silang ihuli sa bakuna. Included in the A4 category of vaccinees, we hope they will not be bumped off the line and soon get their shots in the current rollout of the government's vaccination program,” Poe said.

(They were not prioritized in the distribution of financial aid, let us not leave them behind in our vaccination program.)

“Our PUV drivers need the vaccine now given the critical frontline work that they do,” she added.

Poe reiterated that drivers have been essential in the transportation of healthcare workers and in the delivery of food and goods to help businesses with their operations.

“The vaccine will not only protect our drivers, but also strengthen the resilience of our essential transport services,” she said.

The groups that are currently prioritized in the vaccination program are the medical frontliners, senior citizens, persons with comorbidities, the economic frontliners, and the indigents.

The government’s inter-agency COVID-19 task force earlier announced that the following essential workers are part of the A4 sector:

• workers in 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

The government has already administered over 3 million COVID-19 doses as of May 16.—LDF, GMA News