San Miguel Corporation (SMC)’s nationwide “Ligtas Lahat” vaccination drive for A4 workers now covers major cities outside Metro Manila, where the company has significant operations and employees, in support of government’s aggressive efforts to immunize essential workers and fast-track the country’s economic recovery.
From July 2 to July 8, the company, through partnerships with government agencies, local governments, and local medical facilities, had vaccinated close to 2,500 employees from outside the National Capital Region, bringing SMC’s total number of A4 workers vaccinated to 7,189.
This was after 500 San Miguel employees received their vaccines yesterday in coordination with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) and the City of San Fernando at the GreenCity Medical Center in San Fernando.
Joining company officials during the event were National Task Force Against Covid-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon, Pampanga governor Delta Pineda, and San Fernando City mayor Edwin Santiago.
After Pampanga, Laguna, and Davao City, SMC employees based in Bulacan and Cavite are scheduled to get their jabs next week.
Early this year, SMC announced it was spending P1 billion on a program that would vaccinate 70,000 direct and indirect employees nationwide. While waiting for its own supply of vaccines, the company has been hiring and deploying medical professionals to various LGU vaccination sites to boost government’s inoculation program.
With government’s directive to prioritize vaccinating Category A4 workers, it has also partnered with LGUs in the meantime to enable the vaccination of its essential workers.
In Sta. Rosa City, 600 Laguna-based employees from the across the San Miguel Group got their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines at The Medical City South Luzon, in partnership with the Sta. Rosa LGU headed by Mayor Arlene Arcillas.
Through the Davao City LGU, 1,369 San Miguel employees from various business units were vaccinated at the Davao Doctors Hospital Main in a four-day program.
Earlier, from June 3 to July 2, a total of 4,720 employees based in the National Capital Region (NCR) were vaccinated through the assistance of the Pasig and Mandaluyong LGUs at vaccination sites set up by SMC at the Jose Rizal University (JRU) in Mandaluyong, La Salle Green Hills, and the SMC Sports Complex at C-5 Road in Pasig City.
SMC and the Mandaluyong LGU co-manage the JRU vaccination site, which has a 1,000-person per day capacity and caters to both city residents and A4 category workers.
The LSGH and the SMC Sports Complex were designated as the main sites for the company’s vaccination program. The LSGH and SMC Sports Complex sites can accommodate 1,000 and 800 employees per day, respectively.
SMC also looks to establish 13 vaccination sites in Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, Albay, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Isabela, Bataan, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro.
SMC is also looking to hire a total of 300 medical professionals for its nationwide vaccination rollout. Thus far, it has hired over 100 medical doctors and nurses who have been deployed to augment manpower at vaccination sites in Mandaluyong, Malabon, Manila, Paranaque, and Quezon City.
Together with local medical workers, they have helped administer close to 180,000 vaccines as of June 22.
