A TOTAL of 4,752 business process outsourcing (BPO) employees and market vendors were inoculated with anti-Covid vaccines as the city government steps up its campaign, Mayor Evelio "Bing" Leonardia said Sunday, August 15, 2021.
Leonardia, chair of Emergency Operations Center (EOC), together with Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, head of the local Inter-Agency Task Force, and City Administrator and EOC Executive Director Em Legaspi-Ang, led the initial rollout of the city's mobile vaccination drive or VAX-i, that paved the inoculation of 428 vendors and workers at the Libertad Market (124), Central Market (190) and Burgos Market (114) on Friday, August 13.
It was a full schedule for Leonardia and Ang's EOC and her team of doctors, nurses and other health frontliners as they were also on hand to witness when 1,620 employees of two BPO firms received anti-Covid jabs Saturday, August 14.
Teleperformance employees, numbering around 490, got their first Sinovac dose at a local mall, while some 1,130 PanAsiatic Soluriins-Bacolod call center agents and admin staff also received Sinovac jabs at the company's own facilities.
Ang said the weekend on-site vaccination and rollout at the different malls for call center personnel brought to a total of 4,324 BPO employees already inoculated to date.
Transcom, EOC records showed, had the most number of agents inoculated at 1,600 followed by PanAsiatic Solutions, 1,130; Teleperformance, 1,096; Concentrix, 182; IQOR, 130; Ubiquity, 100; ARB, 66, and Contractual, 20.
"As your local government's commitment, we will double our efforts to reach as many residents to get vaccinated through a combination of strategies -- at mass vaccination sites, through our mobile Vax-i, on-site or walk-ins at local malls," Leonardia said.
“This is a classic case of the proverbial 'if Muhammad cannot go to the mountain, let the mountain go to Muhammad,' ” echoed Leonardia, apparently referring to an effective mantra in good governance that government should bring its services closer to the people.
“Our goal is to make the vaccination program more accessible to everyone so we can have safer communities and achieve herd immunity and control, if not eradicate, Covid-19 as fast as possible," he said.
Leading the Teleperformance Bacolod vaccine rollout are Site Director Andrea Resurreccion, HR Director Claire Bedia and HR Supervisor Marili Lim.
The PanAsiatic Solutions-Bacolod vaccine rollout was led by Site Director Siony Hijara Ferraris, General Manager and Operations Director Rogie Arceñas, and HR Manager and CompBen Ma. Teresa Nolasco.
Joining the mayor in the Teleperformance Bacolod vaccination drive were Councilor Carl Lopez and EOC deputy for medical Dr. Chris Sorongon.
The onsite vaccination on two PanAsatic Solutions facilities was supervised by Ang, who is also concurrent CoVaC coordinator; EOC Deputy for Medical Dr. Anna Maria Laarni Pornan, also the head of City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, with the assistance of EOC doctors, nurses, barangay health workers, and CDRRMO staff.
"Teleperformance is one of the first BPOs in Bacolod to organize a mass vaccination rollout for employees through the support of the local government. This initiative re-affirms TP’s commitment not only to protect the health of its people but also to help our local government address the pandemic with agile, large-scope support of its programs at the corporate level", Teleperformance said in a statement.
PanAsiatic, on the other hand, said, ”We highly appreciate the LGU's efforts to get Covid-19 vaccines for our employees. We remain committed to keep the workplace safe for our people and help everyone get a better shot of ending the pandemic". (PR)