MANILA, Philippines – The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID) has approved the list of sectors included in the A4 priority group of the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program, Malacañang said Friday.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the A4 priority list includes the following:

• Workers in commuter transport (land, air, and sea), including logistics
• Public and private wet and dry market vendors
• Frontline workers in groceries, supermarkets, delivery services
• Workers in manufacturing for food, beverage, medical and pharmaceutical products
• Frontline workers in food retail, including food service delivery
• Frontline workers in private and government financial services
• Frontline workers in hotels and accommodation establishments
• Priests, rabbis, imams, and other religious leaders
• Security guards/ personnel assigned in offices, agencies, and organizations identified in the list of priority industries/sectors
• Frontline workers in private and government news media
• Customer-facing personnel of telecoms, cable and internet service providers, electricity distribution and water distribution utilities
• Frontline personnel in basic education and higher education institutions and agencies
• Overseas Filipino workers, including those scheduled for deployment within two months

Also included in the A4 priority group for COVID-19 vaccination are the following:

• Frontline workers in law/justice, security, and social protection sectors
• Frontline government workers engaged in the operations of government transport system, quarantine inspection;
• Worker safety inspection and other COVID-19 response activities
• Frontline government workers in charge of tax collection, assessment of businesses for incentives, election, national ID, data collection personnel
• Diplomatic community and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) personnel in consular operations
• Department of Public Works and Highways personnel in charge of monitoring government infrastructure projects

Roque said the IATF approved the A4 list on Thursday, April 15.

The Palace official likewise announced that the IATF has approved the continuation of the training of the national athletes at the Olympic Training Bubble in Calamba, Laguna as well as the extension of the temporary suspension of foreign nationals until April 30, 2021.

Foreign nationals with valid entry exemption documents duly issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs prior to March 22, 2021 will be allowed entry to the Philippines.

The IATF also approved the extension of the risk-level classification of Quirino Province under Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine until April 30, Roque said.

MANILA, Philippines—Voter registration and certification in the NCR Plus and other provinces under modified enhanced community (MECQ), and other areas that will be placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) or MECQ by their respective local governments will remain suspended from April 12 to 30, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Advisory: Schedule of COMELEC Offices from April 12-30, 2021@jabjimenez @dirfrancesarabe pic.twitter.com/issStWTsfm

— COMELEC (@COMELEC) April 12, 2021

As announced by Malacañang, areas under MECQ include the National Capital Region and the provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna,  and Rizal in the NCR Plus; Santiago City, Isabela and Quirino in Region 2; and Abra in the Cordillera Autonomous Region.

Meanwhile, for other areas in the country under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified general community quarantine (MGCQ), registration will open from Mondays to Thursdays from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and voter certification will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. AAC

MANILA, Philippines — The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF)  has approved the construction of a vaccination facility at the Nayong Pilipino compound in Paranaque City, the Department of Tourism (DOT) confirmed Monday (April 12).

A DOT-attached agency, the Nayong Pilipino Foundation (NPF) agreed to use a vacant lot in the area for the construction of the facility to help in the government’s vaccination program.

“This is expected to be a game-changer in the vaccination program. The facility, which will be a public-private partnership, is expected to vaccinate at least 12,000 people a day,” the DOT said in a statement.

The project will be made possible through an agreement between the National Task Force against COVID-19 (NTF) and the Nayong Pilipino Foundation, whose board had already given its preliminary approval of the project to ensure its immediate execution.