IATF approves new A4 vaccination priority list
Essential workers in the commuter transport sector, market vendors, grocery and supermarket employees and those in the delivery services as well as media can now be vaccinated against COVID-19 after the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) approved the inoculation of Priority Group A4, Malacañang said yesterday.
“The IATF approved group on Thursday, April 15, 2021, includes commuter transport (land, air and sea), including logistics; public and private wet and dry market vendors; frontline workers in groceries, supermarkets, delivery services; workers in manufacturing for food, beverage, medical and pharmaceutical products,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said.
Also included
priority group are frontline workers in food retail, private and government financial services, workers in hotels and accommodations, religious leaders, security guards and overseas Filipino workers scheduled for deployment within two months.
Media workers as well as customer-facing personnel of telecommunications companies, internet service providers and electricity and water distribution utilities are also covered.
Specific government workers such as those in justice, social protection and transportation, quarantine operation, tax collection and other activities indispensable to the COVID-19 response are included as well.
Educators prioritized
The IATF also included education frontliners in the A4 priority category, stating that all teaching and non-teaching personnel in public and private elementary and high schools are now prioritized after medical workers (A1), senior citizens (A2) and persons with comorbidities (A3).
Both the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) welcomed the decision.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) also lauded the move, noting that teachers and non-teaching personnel are also frontliners.
“Finally, the essential service of our education frontliners amid the pandemic is being recognized to merit health protection from the government,” said ACT secretary general Raymond Basilio.
House social services committee chair Alfred Vargas and assistant majority leader Niña Taduran backed the inclusion of media workers in the priority list.
“The inclusion of more frontliners – such as workers in the media – in the vaccination priority list is welcome. The more Filipinos we vaccinate early, the sooner we can bring the pandemic under the control,” said Vargas.
“The work of our media friends has not stopped during the pandemic. They even expose themselves to COVID-19 by covering where the actions are just to bring to us the needed information,” said Taduran.