Media workers now included in A4 vax priority group

MANILA – The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) has approved the proposed sectors included in the A4 priority group for the vaccination against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), Malacañang said on Friday.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, also acting as IATF-EID spokesperson, said the updated A4 category on the Covid-19 vaccination priority list was approved on Thursday.

Members of the media are now included in the A4 list, Roque said.

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were also elevated from the B5 category to the A4 level.

The sectors belonging to the A4 group are:

-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;
-Frontline workers in food retail, including food service delivery;
-Frontline workers in private and government financial services;
-Frontline workers in hotels and accommodation establishments;
-Priests, rabbis, imams, and other religious leaders;
-Security guards/ personnel assigned in offices, agencies, and organizations identified in the list of priority industries/sectors;
-Frontline workers in private and government news media;
-Customer-facing personnel of telecoms, cable and internet service providers, electricity distribution and water distribution utilities;
-Frontline personnel in basic education and higher education institutions and agencies;
-OFWs, including those scheduled for deployment within two months;
-Frontline workers in law/justice, security, and social protection sectors;
-Front-line government workers engaged in the operations of the government transport system, quarantine inspection;
-Worker safety inspection and other Covid-19 response activities;
-Frontline government workers in charge of tax collection, assessment of businesses for incentives, election, national ID, data collection personnel;
-Diplomatic community and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) personnel in consular operations; and
-the Department of Public Works and Highways personnel in charge of monitoring government infrastructure projects

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire earlier said members of the media are not included in the A4 list because they will be included in the B classification with other workers in society.

The Department of Health is developing detailed guidelines for the A4 category.

National Economic and Development Authority Undersecretary for Planning and Policy Rosemarie Edillon on Monday said establishments, agencies, and organizations (EAOs) shall issue certificates of A4 eligibility to their employees who belong to the category.

Edillon said EAOs are also urged to provide logistics support, including transportation, to facilitate their workers’ inoculation.

EAOs, she added, are also encouraged to adopt a scheduling system for their workers, taking into consideration possible adverse reactions after vaccination which may result in workers taking time off from work.