Amid government plan to completely reopen tourist destinations to domestic and international tourists, the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases must prioritize the vaccination of cabin crew, flight attendants, pilots, and other aviation workers by including them among A4 essential workers currently being targeted by the government for mass vaccination amid the risk of exposure to COVID-19.
In preparation for a total reopening of the tourism industry and help revive the entire economy, the IATF issued on May 31, 2021, a resolution 118 allowing the travel of tourists of all ages from Metro Manila and four nearby provinces Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal to areas under modified general community quarantine until June 31, 2021.
But before that would happen, flight attendants, cabin crew, pilots, ground personnel and other aviation workers who are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 exposure with most of them work in confined and congested spaces should be vaccinated first before opening further the tourism industry.
The government must prioritize the vaccination of our aviation workers who are essential workers during this pandemic because they perform important frontline work in helping people travel safely by ensuring the minimum safety and health air travel protocols among crew and passengers.
They also did successfully various dangerous missions in repatriating troubled overseas Filipino workers reunite with their families at home and had been assisting overseas Filipinos and foreign nationals reached their destinations safely despite very difficult working conditions imposed by additional air travel safety protocols against COVID.
In a monitoring made by workers’ unions Associated Labor Unions (ALU), more than 5,000 aviation workers were permanently laid off and thousands more were placed on floating and on-call status since the pandemic crisis hit the airline industry more than a year ago.
Other distressed airlines turned to pay cuts and reduction of benefits instead of layoffs to preserve their workforce.
Despite these, aviation workers are also now performing a critical role in helping bring vaccines, medicines, and safely transport of health workers to other parts of the country on a daily basis, and they are always at risk of exposing themselves and their families to serious disease caused by the virus. We must vaccinate them now.
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