Cebu tourism to receive 20K vax doses weekly, says DOT chief

    PROTECTION. Tourism Secretary Bernadette Puyat says the only way that the country’s tourism sector can bounce back is for all to be vaccinated. A ceremonial vaccination of Cebu’s tourism workers was held Friday, Sept. 24, 2021 at the Oakridge Business Park in Mandaue City. / PIA 7
PROTECTION. Tourism Secretary Bernadette Puyat says the only way that the country’s tourism sector can bounce back is for all to be vaccinated. A ceremonial vaccination of Cebu’s tourism workers was held Friday, Sept. 24, 2021 at the Oakridge Business Park in Mandaue City. / PIA 7

VACCINATE all tourism workers in Cebu by the end of October 2021.

This was the challenge posed by Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat during the ceremonial vaccination of Cebu tourism workers on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021 in Oakridge Buisness Park, Mandaue City.

To achieve this, Puyat said Cebu will have a weekly allocation of 20,000 vaccines solely for tourism workers.

“Cebu is really one of our top tourist destinations and the only way that we can bounce back is for all to be vaccinated,” she said.

Puyat said the Department of Tourism’s goal is to vaccinate 100 percent of all tourism workers in the whole country by Christmas.

“Everybody in the tourist destination should be vaccinated. We can’t only vaccinate the hotel workers, we have to vaccinate everybody that the tourist comes in contact with,” she said.

Puyat stressed that all over Asia, tourism destinations that can open are only those who have vaccinated 90 percent or more of their tourism workers.

Vaccine czar and National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementor Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., revealed that around 50 percent of the tourism workers in the tri-cities of Cebu have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

“By providing our workers here in Cebu with an extra layer of protection against the virus, they will have more confidence to return to their jobs, which, in turn, shall encourage tourism operators to increase their operational capacity and result in an economic revival here in the province,” Galvez said.

The vaccine czar also announced that the government is expected to receive a total of 100 million vaccine doses by the end of October 2021.

For September, the Philippines will receive a total of 20 million vaccine doses. Of this number, 317,114 will be allocated for Cebu Province, 60,960 for Cebu City, 40,220 for Mandaue City and 33,310 for Lapu-Lapu City.

As to the Pfizer brand, the same will be distributed to Manila, Cebu and Davao.

According to Galvez, Cebu will be getting 150,000 Pfizer-Biontech vaccine doses.

He said the government is working on vaccinating 100 percent of the eligible population by December 2021.

Deputy chief implementer Secretary Vince Dizon, for his part, attributed the successful lowering of Covid-19 cases in Cebu and rolling out of the vaccines to the strong public-private sector partnership in the province.

Meanwhile, Alfred Reyes, president of Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu said Cebu should fast-track its vaccination drive. He also asked all tourism stakeholders to get vaccinated.

“We urge the hotels, resorts, restaurants, transportation companies, tourism site workers, shopping malls, event organizers, pasalubong shops, island hopping boatmen, our tour guides and our travel agencies and those that are very much dependent on both domestic and international tourism industries, to get themselves the vaccine,” he said.(JOB WITH PR )

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