3,000 workers vaccinated on Labor Day — Bello

MANILA, Philippines — Nearly 3,000 workers were vaccinated against COVID-19 on Labor Day, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Monday.

“Halos 3,000 ang nabakunahan noong Mayo Uno,” Bello said in an interview over Teleradyo.

(Almost 3,000 were vaccinated on May 1.)

Initially, the government targeted 5,000 vaccine recipients among workers on Labor Day. However, Bello said only 3,000 were inoculated due to lack of time.

“Medyo kinapos sa oras. Marami ang nandoon pero, ‘di sila inabutan ng panahon kasi umabot na ng gabi, ‘di pa natatapos ang pagbabakuna,” he said.

(We ran out of time. Many went there to be vaccinated but due to lack of time, they were not able to get inoculated. We were still not finished with the vaccination come night time.)

Nevertheless, Bello said some local government units rescheduled the vaccination of workers on Monday.

“Kagaya ng Pasig, ngayong araw sila magbabakuna. Sa halip na May 1 ine-schedule ngayong araw na ‘to,” he added.

(Like Pasig, they will conduct the vaccination today. Instead of on May 1, they will schedule it today.)

Contact tracers

Meanwhile, Bello said the contact tracers hired under an agreement between the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will likely start working on Monday.

According to Bello, there are over 5,700 positions available. DOLE, he said, will be spending P280 million to pay these contact tracers for three months, with a daily wage of P537.

Over the weekend, the DILG said 13,304 have so far applied for the position and 2,696 have been assessed and qualified.

JE