ILOILO City – Business groups here are seeking additional coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines as the number of infections continues to rise both in the city and province of Iloilo.
Atty. Jobert Peñaflorida, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Iloilo chapter, said on Tuesday that across the world, recovery is realized when people are vaccinated.
According to him, they recognized the effort of the local government to procure vaccines as the PCCI also purchased a certain quantity for its members and employees.
He added that the request for an additional vaccine is a collective effort, but each business group came up with a letter request addressed to Health secretary Francisco Duque III and Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr.
Also appealing for more allocations are the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Iloilo, Inc., Iloilo Economic Development Foundation (ILED), Inc., and the Iloilo Business Club (IBC).
ILED, in a letter signed by its chairman Engr. Terence Uygongco and president Angel De Leon, said the surge in cases would mean “greater economic fallout, more school closures, more healthcare disruptions, and threatening the futures of families everywhere”.
Peñaflorida said they only requested additional vaccines, but the inoculation follows the order of priority of the Department of Health, which now covers economic frontliners.
For him, economic frontliners must get vaccinated because they are those who come home to their houses and mingle with the vulnerable members of their families.
With PCCI, he said they will be procuring 8,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine part of which will be allotted for the use of the local government.(PNA)
