More than 70 percent of tourism frontliners in NCR received COVID-19 shots — DOT

MANILA, Philippines — Close to 20,000 or more than 70 percent of tourism workers in Metro Manila have already received COVID-19 vaccines, the Department of Tourism (DOT) announced on Tuesday.

Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said that some 72 percent of tourism workers or 19,315 out of 26,745 in 16 cities and one municipality in Metro Manila were vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Monday.

“The vaccination of our tourism workers is a necessary step to keep them protected while doing their duty in the frontlines,” Puyat said in a statement. “These figures are of high importance especially with the threat of the Delta variant.”

Of the 19,315, a total of 15,020 are employed in 402 quarantine and isolation hotels, while 4,295 are employed in 53 regular or staycation hotels, according to DOT.

DOT also facilitated the vaccination of workers in DOT-accredited restaurants in NCR. DOT said a total of 1,245 out of 4,479 workers in the list submitted by 202 restaurants in Metro Manila received their shots.

“We are confident that we will be able to vaccinate 100% of tourism workers from DOT-accredited accommodation establishments from Metro Manila before the end of the ECQ period,” Puyat added.

DOT establishments that have yet to submit their list of tourism workers for vaccination can get in touch with the DOT-NCR  by emailing them at [email protected] or calling (+632) 8459-5200 loc.108.

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