SMC backs DOH booster campaign

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Corp. (SMC) is throwing its full support behind government’s intensified booster vaccination drive to backstop further easing of COVID-19 restrictions and help sustain the country’s recovery and growth.

The renewed vaccination campaign, dubbed PinasLakas, is being rolled out by the Department of Health (DOH) to speed up and increase booster uptake nationwide through the setting up of vaccination sites at workplaces, hospitals, schools, malls, transportation terminals and various communities.

SMC has signed on to support the program and is the health department’s largest private sector partner, to date.

Last year, through its own Ligtas Lahat vaccination drive, SMC successfully vaccinated 98 percent of its entire nationwide network of employees and extended workers.

SMC procured its own vaccines and set up its own vaccination sites in various cities and provinces to reach everyone in its network. SMC also hired some 160 medical professionals for deployment to the different LGUs to support government’s vaccination drive, which led to the eventual safe reopening of the economy.

“Our country has had many significant gains against the pandemic this past year. So far, despite the emergence of new variants, and even through the surges we’ve experienced, our recovery has held fast. But the risk to individuals, populations, our economic stability, is still there. Until more or a majority of Filipinos get boosted, we always run the risk of having our pandemic gains limited or stalled,” said SMC president and chief executive officer Ramon Ang.

“That is why we fully support this program, especially since government has already eased outdoor mask mandates. While that is intended to give us relief, there are of course conditions. It’s up to each of us to be responsible for ourselves and those around us. Getting boosted or up-to-date with boosters further minimizes our risks,” Ang said.

Ang lauded the DOH, under OIC Maria Rosario Vergeire, for its continuing efforts to provide safe, effective and accessible vaccines to Filipinos to help sustain economic recovery.

“At San Miguel, vaccines have been critical not just to our recovery but more importantly, the safe and continued operations of our various facilities and installations nationwide. With vaccination, we have been able to ensure continued availability of food, power, fuel, and the safe operations of vital infrastructure,” Ang said.

He added: “We thank the DOH for bringing the PinasLakas campaign to San Miguel and making vaccines more available to our employees. I hope that with this campaign, the national government will be able to increase booster uptake and roll out second booster doses to a wider population.”

Ang said that to date, 72 percent of SMC’s fully vaccinated workforce in the National Capital Region have had at least one booster shot under the company’s own program. With PinasLakas, he said he anticipates this number to go up in the coming months, and for uptake for the second booster to also increase ahead of the holiday season — when there is usually an uptick in positive cases.

SMC formalized its support for PinasLakas with a ceremonial booster vaccination of 130 employees at the company’s head office in Mandaluyong City.

The ceremony held on Wednesday was led by Ang and Vergeire, with Mandaluyong Mayor Benjamin Abalos Sr., engineer and MMDA acting Chairman Carlo Dimayuga III, DILG Undersecretary Margarita Gutierrez and DOLE director Alvin Curada.

Vergeire, for her part, thanked SMC for continuing to be among the biggest supporters of the government’s vaccination program.

In June 2021, SMC officially started its “Ligtas Lahat” employee vaccination program, which saw the company allot P1 billion for the free vaccination of its employees, third-party providers, and their families, to help with the government’s vaccination targets.

The company bought over 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines and donated these and the services of its 160-strong Ligtas Lahat medical team to local government units in Metro Manila and over a dozen other cities across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

SMC also transformed its brand new 5,013-square-meter sports facility in Pasig City into a vaccination site that could accommodate up to 800 individuals per day. This was one of 14 vaccination sites that SMC set up and managed for its workforce nationwide.

SMC also continues to implement various safety measures to better ensure employees’ safety and well-being, including weekly antigen testing and additional cleaning and sanitization routines.

To date, the company’s P14.8 billion pandemic response package, which includes food and medical donations and support for medical frontliners, remains among the largest private sector contributions to pandemic response.

Since July 2022, the DOH has opened nearly 20,000 PinasLakas vaccination sites nationwide, with over 1,200 based in the NCR alone. The campaign’s goal is to fully vaccinate 90 percent of the A2 or senior citizen population and increase booster dose coverage to 50 percent of the target population by Oct. 8, 2022, which marks the first 100 days of the Marcos administration.