Reopening the economy
The adverse effects of economic recession have become unbearable to many sectors in the economy after suffering for more than a year in this pandemic. The struggle is real for those who lost their jobs or their means of livelihood. The call to reopen the economy is resounding yet muffled by the slow rollout of the vaccination program.
The key to reopen the economy is to implement a speedy and efficient vaccine deployment plan that complements with the Prevention, Isolation, Treatment and Reintegration as the cornerstone response to prevent further transmission of the virus.
The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) recently published the A4 Priority Group of the COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment Plan. Although the Deployment Plan presents a strategy for the vaccine deployment to maximize what they can do given the scarce supply of vaccine, the plan also is an implied admission of a possibility that we will not be able to attain the target herd immunity by the end of 2021. Hence, we have to make do with what we have and what we can.
Based on census data gathered 6 years ago, there is an estimated 12.8 million workers in the A4 priority group. This number must be higher at present considering the growth in the population, the number of business in the A4 group, and the increase in economic activities.
Based on the plan, workers in the sectors or groups that have high levels of interaction with or exposure to the public and cannot dutifully practice minimum public health standards at work and in the sectors or groups that are needed to ensure security, consumer and worker safety, and those working in priority government projects.
While it is wise for the government to adopt a priority scheme, the government must exhaust all means to secure sufficient vaccine supplies to inoculate the targeted number of the population. In this manner, we do away with the painful process of choosing who to vaccinate first ahead of the others.