Metro Manila mayors require bazaar, tiangge workers to be fully vaccinated

MANILA, Philippines — Mayors have prepared guidelines for sellers and personnel of Christmas bazaars and other seasonal markets in Metro Manila as the holiday nears and shoppers start to increase in numbers, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority disclosed Thursday.

This comes after the Inter-agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases placed the National Capital Region under Alert Level 2 last Friday, November 5.

In a statement sent to reporters, MMDA chair Benhur Abalos, the mayors have agreed to implement a unified standard on the conduct of bazaars, tiangges, and pop-up stores as more establishments and activities are already allowed to operate under alert level 2.

Based on MMDA Resolution No. 21-27, all traders, salespersons, exhibitors, organizers and other personnel are required to be fully vaccinated prior to their actual conduct of Christmas bazaars, tiangges and pop-up stores.

“These will help reduce risk of transmitting the virus since they are seasonal in nature and sellers come from various parts of the country making contract tracing difficult on the part of the local government units,” the chairman said.

“We want to avoid a repeat of the polio outbreak in the country which happened last September 2019 where these seasonal stores are identified as significant contributors in its spread.”

The MMDA has inked an agreement with the Philippine Dental Association and Rotary Club of Manila for the capital region's “We Vax As One” initiative to increase the inoculation rate of Metro Manila and neighboring provinces Rizal, Bulacan, Cavite and Laguna.

Dentists will now serve as vaccinators, complementing doctors and nurses who already inoculated 90% of Metro Manila’s eligible population.

“The COVID-19 virus is equally deadly as polio, so in order to guard against exposure to the virus, we should make sure that our economic frontliners have their own protection since they are exposed to many,” Abalos said.

To date, the Department of Health has tallied over 2.80 million coronavirus cases around the country. 

The surging Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to slow down all around the Philippines, the OCTA Research Group said earlier this week.