THE local government of San Luis in Pampanga will shoulder the free Covid-19 vaccination of individuals who are working within the municipality but are not officially residing in the town.
Mayor Jayson Sagum said the local government will extend its free mass vaccination program to non-resident workers to ensure that they will also be protected from the virus.
“If they are not vaccinated, they can be carriers and since they are working here, they could cause the spread of the virus in our town, so to prevent that from happening, we will also include in our vaccination program,” he said.
To be included in the program are employees of business establishments, market vendors and those who are working and renting houses in the town in long-term basis.
Sagum said the local government is allocating some P12 million for the vaccine to supplement the supply that will be downloaded by the provincial and local governments.
He said the national and provincial governments may cover the two doses of vaccine of about 80 percent of the town’s total population, or some 48,000 individuals.
“We will be left with 20 percent of the population, or some 12,000 people. The cost of the vaccine and its procurement is estimated at P1,000 so more or less, the funds that we will be using is around P12 million,” the mayor said.
As of Thursday, February 1, San Luis is the first to announce its comprehensive free mass vaccination program that will include non-resident workers.