DOLE: More COVID-19 jabs secured for construction, factory workers

The National Task Force Against COVID-19 has approved the request of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for additional vaccines for workers in economically active industries, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.

In a statement, Bello said the move will speed up the reopening of the economy and boost protection of workers in the country’s manufacturing and construction industries.

“I sincerely thank vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez for his positive and immediate response to our urgent request,” he said.

With the approval, the Labor chief said a total of 452,000 doses would be allocated for factory workers in Regions 4A, 3 and 7 and construction workers in the National Capital Region.

Bello acknowledged the challenges in the supply of vaccines but said it was necessary to allocate a portion of the supply to workers who are actively contributing to the economy.

“We believe doing this would speed up economic recovery,” he said.

Bello said the recent 11.8% growth in the country’s gross national product emphasizes the need to inoculate active members of the economy.

“This is particularly true to the manufacturing and construction sectors that contributed much to that growth,” Bello added.

Earlier, the National Employment Recovery Strategy (NERS) Task Force and the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) launched the “1 Million Jobs for 2021” project.

The project aims to immediately source Filipino talents for deployment in economically active industries, under a policy environment that would help create jobs all over the country.

Bello said part of DOLE’s commitment in the project is to facilitate the vaccination of workers in their respective local government units. —Ted Cordero/KBK, GMA News