Over 1,000 BI personnel to be vaccinated vs COVID-19

PHOTO by ED LUSTAN / INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — More than a thousand frontliners from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) are set to receive their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines starting this weekend.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Friday that the bureau is targeting to inoculate 1,250 personnel with CoronaVac, the vaccine developed by the Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech.

“We have scheduled vaccination of our eligible employees on a weekend so as not to hamper our daily operations,” Morente said in a statement.

He said that the BI will start with the vaccination of its employees who are senior citizens and persons with comorbidities, in compliance with the priority list given by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

He added that a pre-screening will be conducted to determine the medical history of the personnel to determine those eligible to be vaccinated.

BI Deputy Commissioner and Chairperson of COVID-19 Taskforce Aldwin Alegre assured that basic health protocols will still be observed by their personnel even after their vaccinations.

“BI is a frontline agency and our employees at the ports, as well as in our numerous offices nationwide, have remained open to provide service. Our frontliners are one of the most exposed and have a high risk of contracting the highly transmissible virus. As such, we will continue to make sure that all health protocols are being followed,” he said.

According to BI, the Manila City government permitted the bureau to have their vaccines stored in the city’s facility until the final rollout.

Almost 300 BI employees have so far tested positive for COVID-19, according to the agency.

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