BORACAY – This island expects to receive 40,000 doses of Sinovac anti-coronavirus disease vaccines donated by China to the Philippine government, more than enough to inoculate an estimated 17,000 tourism workers.
To reboot the local tourism industry, according to Malay, Aklan acting mayor Frolibar Bautista, tourism workers should be the first in line to get protection from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The local government of Malay has jurisdiction over Boracay Island.
The Aklan provincial government previously urged the nation’s vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. to put the tourism workforce in the immunization program priority list.
The more people getting the vaccines, the better for the pandemic-hit tourism industry of Boracay Island, said Provincial Health Officer I Dr. Cornelio Cuachon Jr.
Before the raging pandemic, the tourism industry was one of the major contributors to the country’s economy. When tourism restarted late last year, the visitors returning to Boracay Island were mostly from the National Capital Region. Without the China and South Korea markets, however, the island had very low tourist arrivals.
Meanwhile, mass COVID-19 testing resumed here on March 2 as part of the government’s surge in testing. It covered almost 220 vendors and jetty port personnel.
The province of Aklan by far recorded 881 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 156 active cases and 28 deaths./ PN
