BORACAY – Foreign tourists will find a “fully-vaccinated island” attractive, according to Aklan governor Florencio Miraflores, thus all of this holiday resort’s residents and workers must be inoculated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), he stressed.
Tourism secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat was just as upbeat yesterday when the Department of Tourism (DOT) and Department of Health (DOH) started rolling out COVID-19 vaccines to tourism workers.
The island received 3,000 first doses of CoronaVac (Sinovac) vaccines on July 3. A ceremonial vaccination was held yesterday on the island’s beachfront participated in by 10 representatives from various tourism workers’ associations accredited by the local government unit (LGU) of Malay, Aklan.
Target recipients were 2,178 workers of accommodation establishments, hotels and resorts, 308 employees in restaurants, 140 in tourist transport as well as 374 tour guides, boatmen, e-trike drivers, airport and seaport front liners, and aqua sport providers.
National Task Force Against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vivencio Hizon who was also here assured tourism workers they would all be vaccinated.
Boracay had been one of the tourist destinations struggling to roll out the vaccination plan for tourism workers due to shortage in vaccines.
Hizon said two million doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines were arriving in the country on July 9 and Boracay would have a share.
“We are certain Boracay will have enough doses to vaccinate its tourism workers. We commit next week for additional vaccines for Boracay…to slowly but surely open the island to tourists,” Hizon said.
The goal, according to Puyat, is to achieve herd immunity in Boracay.
“Kasama na mabakunahan ang 17,000 active tourist workers so we could finally restart tourism in Boracay,” the Tourism chief stressed.
Dizon said they expected to complete the vaccination of 17,000 tourism workers within the month as the Paradise Garden Resort Hotel and Convention Center Boracay and the City Mall could each accommodate 500 vaccinees a day.
As long as vaccine supplies are available, they can complete the vaccination in 17 to 18 days, he added.
Even without the vaccines for tourism workers, the island accommodated an average of 1,200 tourists daily from July 1 to July 4.
“I don’t think I’ve met any tourism worker who did not want to get vaccinated. We want to be vaccinated because we want to already restart tourism and we want to be protected,” said Puyat.
Governor Miraflores said the provincial government wanted to inoculate 27,000 residents in three barangays of Boracay – Balabag, Manocmanoc and Yapak – to prepare for the reopening of the island for foreign tourists.
“We have to offer the island as fully vaccinated for foreigners. The travel bubble between the traditional markets from China, Taiwan and South Korea is doable in the near future,” said Miraflores.
Boracay Island continues to reel from pandemic-induced restrictions, with 53 active infections and four people who have died of COVID-19 complications./PN
