‘No vax, no entry’ rule set in Cebu City shops

JAB RUSH Residents of Cebu City wait for their turn to get their COVID-19 vaccine shot at Barangay Tisa National High School during the government’s three-day national vaccination drive this week. —NESTLE SEMILLA

CEBU CITY—Mayor Michael Rama has given residents until Dec. 31 to complete their COVID-19 vaccine shots as the city government will start disallowing unvaccinated people from entering local business establishments after the deadline.

But Rama said those unvaccinated could present a negative COVID swab test result should they want to enter shops here.

Keeping all safe

He said the ultimate goal was to vaccinate all eligible residents of Cebu City.

“By Dec. 31, all residents of Cebu City should be vaccinated. Is that doable? Let’s try. Perhaps, we can do it,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Rama’s announcement came after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases prohibited unvaccinated people from doing on-site work. The national pandemic task force had said that by Dec. 1, unvaccinated workers would be prohibited from entering their workplaces unless they could present a negative swab test result every two weeks.

“I intend to implement it in City Hall. Why not? This is to keep everybody safe. However, we will still [follow] the process and hopefully, by Dec. 31, all City Hall employees will be vaccinated,” he added.

Rama earlier announced that the city would only release the P20,000 Christmas bonus to each city employee, regardless of employment status, if all were vaccinated against COVID-19.

He said the move was meant to help boost the city’s COVID-19 vaccination program which remained below 70 percent.

As of Dec. 1, a total of 433,134 residents in Cebu City had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The city government is targeting to inoculate at least 700,000, or 70 percent, of its population of over 964,000 to achieve herd immunity against the disease.