The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is earmarking P20 million from its 2020 internal income for the purchase of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines to protect its employees.
MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim said the agency will appropriate funds to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines, once they become available, will be bought through the help of the Philippine International Trading Corporation (PITC), an attached agency under the Department of Trade and Industry.
Lim said the MMDA is in coordination with PITC President and CEO Dave Almarinez.
Once finalized, the agency will execute a Memorandum of Agreement with PITC for the inclusion of MMDA on the procurement of the vaccines worth P20 million.
PITC has been mandated by President Rodrigo Duterte to purchase COVID-19 vaccines from abroad.
“The vaccine will add up to our sustained efforts against COVID-19. Our personnel, who are mostly frontliners, can be fully secured of their health,” Lim said.
“Each employee can also nominate one member of his/her family to receive vaccination as well.”
Lim added that each MMDA employee can also nominate one member of his/her family to receive vaccination as well.
“Our employees’ families are as important as they are to us. We want them to be protected, too,” he added.
MMDA General Manager Jojo Garcia likened vaccination against COVID-19 to the “matchstick principle.”
“COVID-19 vaccines can help boost our personnel’s immune system thus decreasing their risk from getting the virus.”
“Vaccination can stop the spread of the virus. COVID-19 spread from one person to another but when a person is vaccinated, he is protected from the virus. COVID-19 vaccines can help boost our personnel’s immune system thus decreasing their risk from getting the virus,” Garcia said.
The MMDA COVID-19 Committee, which oversees the implementation of internal guidelines with regard to the prevention of the virus among employees, continues to recommend additional safety protocols when deemed necessary.
In its fight against COVID-19, the committee conducts regular disinfection on all MMDA offices and strictly implements minimum health protocols among employees and visitors.
The agency had also set up an isolation facility to accommodate employees exposed to persons with COVID-19, tested positive on the rapid test, and for those awaiting swab test results.
Currently, the MMDA has more than 8,000 employees, with almost 80 percent working in the field in various locations in Metro Manila.