NEDA recommends inclusion of 12.4 million workers in A4 COVID-19 vaccination group

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Tuesday recommended that over 12.4 million workers be included in the A4 priority group for COVID-19 vaccinations.

“Based on the 2015 Census of Population, the 2018 List of Establishments and other administrative data, there is an estimated 12,832,969 workers in the A4 priority group,” read the statement from NEDA.

“Needless to say, the numbers given are only indicative and will need to be finalized specific to each LGU during the microplanning stage.”

According to NEDA's estimate, these were the number of workers in each sector for the A4 priority list:

• commuter transport (land, air, and sea), including logistics - 3,671,751
• public and private wet and dry market vendors, groceries, supermarkets, delivery services - 4,363,310
• workers in manufacturing for food, beverage, medical and pharmaceutical products - 176,883
• frontline workers in food retail, including food service delivery - 1,515,203
• frontline workers in private and government financial services - 467,377
• frontline workers in hotels and accommodation establishments - 169,260
• priests, rabbis, imams, and other religious leaders - 22,606
• security guards/ personnel assigned in offices, agencies, and organizations identified in the list of priority industries/sectors - 654,105
• frontline workers in private and government news media - to be determined
• customer-facing personnel of telecoms, cable and internet service providers, electricity distribution and water distribution utilities - to be determined
• frontline personnel in basic education and higher education institutions and agencies - 1,266,565
• overseas Filipino workers, including those scheduled for deployment within two months - 140,000 per month
• frontline workers in law/justice, security, and social protection sectors - 316,842
• frontline government workers engaged in the operations of government transport system, quarantine inspection; worker safety inspection and other COVID-19 response activities - 80,158
• frontline government workers in charge of tax collection, assessment of businesses for incentives, election, national ID, data collection personnel - 50,777
• diplomatic community and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) personnel in consular operations - 10,000
• Department of Public Works and Highways personnel in charge of monitoring government infrastructure projects - 68,132

Indirectly protecting millions

In the same statement, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua pointed out that prioritizing the vaccination of personnel working in essential sectors would also ensure the safety of consumers.

“Given the scarcity of the current vaccine supply, NEDA has identified the sectors or groups that have high levels of interaction with the public, and are needed to ensure security, consumer, and worker safety. By prioritizing these sectors, we are also indirectly protecting the millions who avail of their services,” Chua said.

Public sector workers in charge of clearances, taxes, incentives, and field personnel of the Philippine Statistics Authority also qualified for the A4 list.

NEDA also advised that overseas Filipino workers who would be deployed within two months could also be considered for the A4 group but they must provide a copy of their latest verified employment contract.

Those included in the A4 group could expect to be vaccinated by July this year, according to NEDA Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rosemarie Edillon. She added that vaccines could be widely available by September 2021.

The government has so far administered 1.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines on the following priority groups:

• 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

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. previously said that general public vaccinations would begin if enough supplies arrived on time. — DVM, GMA News