BORACAY – As part of its preparations to welcome foreign tourists back, this island launched coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination in pharmacies (dubbed “Resbakuna sa Botika”) at a mall here yesterday.
Local authorities also rolled out COVID-19 pediatric vaccination for children from five to 11 years old.
Gov. Florencio Miraflores said the country’s move to open its doors to foreign tourists promises a bright future for Aklan.
Boracay Island’s tourism is Aklan’s biggest revenue earner.
To date, Boracay has no active COVID-19 cases while its population and workers are 100 percent vaccinated and waiting for their booster shots.
“(Tourism) Secretary (Bernadette Romulo-Puyat) has announced that foreign tourists have started arriving in the country. We are really at the forefront of this development. We have the advantage of having fully-vaccinated workers and residents. We are more than ready to again open Boracay to foreign tourists,” the governor said.
Miraflores also urged residents to have their children vaccinated.
He recalled that tourist arrivals in Boracay dropped to less than a thousand from an average of 4,000 after they imposed a negative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test requirement for visitors due to a surge in COVId-19 cases in December 20201 and January 2022.
On Feb. 2, the island was again opened to visitors after they were able to contain the Omicron surge in two to three weeks.
Puyat, in her message yesterday, said inoculating children five to 1 years old is important because Filipinos love to travel as a family.
“The reason why we are doing this is that we want everybody to be protected,” she said.
National Task Force chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Boracay Island is a model in terms of vaccination with its over 100 percent vaccination rate.
More tourists are expected to flock when its residents are all boosted and those five to 11 years old are inoculated, he added.
“We will see that the area of Malay will boom and all ancillary business in Aklan will also rise,” he said. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
