Here’s the stand of DOLE regarding “no vax, no ride” policy
DOLE – The Department of Labor and Employment clarified that workers are exempted from the “no vax, no ride” policy.
The COVID-19 vaccination continues to roll out across the country to combat the rapid increase of coronavirus disease 2019.
Among those who were on the priority list of the COVID-19 vaccination program are medical frontliners, persons with comorbidities, and senior citizens.
Pfizer–BioNTech, Oxford–AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Sputnik V, Janssen, Covaxin, Moderna, Sinopharm BIBP, Sputnik Light and Novavax are some of the vaccines available in the country.
As of January 17, 2022, 119,746,232 total vaccine doses have been administered throughout the country, with 55,583,592 being fully vaccinated, and 5,131,203 booster doses administered.
However, there are lots of people who are still hesitant to get vaccinated despite the surge of COVID-19 cases.
This prompted the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to implement the “no vaccination, no ride” policy in Metro Manila’s public transportation in order to further restrict the movement of unvaccinated individuals.
Apparently, many were not in favor of the newest policy as they claimed it’s a “violation of human” rights as well “discrimination.”
Among those are workers and laborers who are yet to get inoculated or partially vaccinated.
But DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III made a clarification regarding the “no vax, no ride” policy.
According to him, workers who enter their jobs can be considered |”essential service” and should not be denied the right to commute.
“They are exempted from the ‘no vax, no ride’ policy. Very clear ‘yan. Pag inihinto mo ang mga ‘yan, paano gagalaw ang ating mga negosyo. ‘Pag walang negosyo, walang ekonomiya,” he said.
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