Makati City public school teachers conduct online classes during school opening last year. (File photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — The government is targeting the COVID-19 vaccination of all uniformed personnel, teachers, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), and other government frontline employees by the end of August, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the national vaccine manager, said Monday during the taped weekly briefing with President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Based also on your guidance, we would also like to finish the vaccination of the security sector — most especially including the OFWs and the teachers,” Galvez, speaking partly in Filipino, told the president.
“Just in case that we already have face-to-face classes in our education, all teachers need to be vaccinated. That‘s our commitment to [Education] Secretary Liling [Briones] — that before the end of August we will vaccinate the teacher,” he added.
Galvez said employees considered as frontliners in the following agencies are included in the target for vaccination by end-August:
- Armed Forces of the Philippines
- Philippine National Police
- Philippine Coast Guard
- Bureau of Fire Protection
- National Bureau of Investigation
- Commission on Higher Education
- Department of Education
- Department of Transportation
- Department of Labor and Employment
- Department of Agrarian Reform
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Foreign Affairs
- Department of Tourism
- Bureau of Customs
- Bureau of Immigration
In total, Galvez said the four million persons in these sectors would be vaccinated — 1.8 million from the aforementioned government agencies and 2.2 million OFWs, which include seafarers.