Makati offers free jabs to city workers

MANILA, Philippines — Makati City will give free vaccines against Covid-19 to all workers in the country’s financial center even if they are not residents.

Makati City Mayor Abby Binay said on Sunday that the city’s free Covid-19 vaccination program would cover employees of registered businesses in the city.

Binay said the P1 billion set aside by the city for the purchase of vaccines as well as its share of shots procured by the national government would suffice to cover all Makati businesses from micro, small and medium enterprises to large companies.

“We are confident we will have enough to cover our essential workers who keep businesses running,” the mayor said.

“We will use the number of employees declared by the businesses in their business permit applications as basis for the number of employees who will be vaccinated for free. This is our way of helping our economic front-liners,” she explained.

But she said the companies must have a 2021 business permit and have updated tax payments, including those paid in installments, so their workers would qualify for the free vaccines. She added that companies that have purchased vaccines for their employees will not be included in the program.

Binay said while Makati has only more than 500,000 residents, the city’s population reaches 5 million daily as employees from different areas come to the city to work.

Binay also gave an assurance that the city would cover medical expenses and hospital bills should vaccinated people experience any side effects from the vaccine.

Makati expects to start administering vaccines to the city’s front-line health workers this month. Other batches of vaccines are anticipated to arrive by the third quarter of the year. INQ