Vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. acted favorably to the request of the Panglao Tourism Council (PTC) to prioritize the vaccination of tourism frontline workers.
In a letter dated June 7, 2021, addressed to Panglao mayor Leonila Montero, Galvez told the former that the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) included the private sector workers required to be physically present at their designated workplace outside of their residence, employees in government agencies and instrumentalities, including government-owned and controlled corporations and local government units are included in the priority group A4.
This comes as the PTC issued council resolution no. 1 series of 2021 dated May 21, 2021, asking the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Tourism (DOT), and the Bohol IATF to prioritize the vaccine rollout to tourism frontline workers and classify them as essential business workers.
In the transmittal letter penned by Montero to Gov. Arthur Yap, dated May 28, 2021, regarding the resolution of the PTC, Galvez was one of the personalities given a copy of the said letter.
Montero in her letter to the governor said that the massive vaccine rollout is a way to jumpstart the tourism-related businesses in the town, which is one of the main economic drivers of the province.
During the virtual press conference on June 4, 2021, Yap told the media that the IATF favors the prioritizing of the vaccine rollout for the frontline workers and residents of Dauis and Panglao towns, the two towns located in Panglao Island, but Yap said the problem lies on the lack of vaccine supply.