KALIBO, Aklan – Aklan governor Florencio Miraflores has reiterated the guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to encourage unvaccinated individuals to get their coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) jabs.
Those unvaccinated employees, regardless of employment status, will have to take their reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test every two weeks. The tests will be shouldered by the onsite employees.
Unvaccinated employees may not be terminated but are also required to get the vaccines before they can perform their onsite work tasks.
IATF Resolution No. 148-B issued on November 11, 2022, also restricted entry of people who are still unvaccinated or partially vaccinated from entering public or private establishments. Operators, drivers, and employees of public transportation are also required to be fully vaccinated.
Miraflores said his Executive Order No. 003 takes effect on January 17, 2022, reiterating the restrictions imposed by IATF on unvaccinated individuals.
LGUs and other government agencies should ensure tricycle and van drivers have digital or physical copies of vaccination cards with their valid government-issued identification.
As of January 17, the province of Aklan logged 726 active infections, of which, 46 patients were admitted to hospitals. Aklan also reported 154 new cases on Sunday with a positivity rate of 58.55 percent.
A large majority of the COVID-19 patients were unvaccinated, the governor added.
From January 1 to 15, 2022, Aklan tallied 584 infections while it reported only 15 cases from December 16, 2021, to December 30, or an increase of 3,793 percent./PN