VAX FOR BPO WORKERS. Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia (center) leads the Covid-19 vaccination rollout for workers of business process outsourcing company Teleperformance at Ayala Malls Capitol Central on Aug. 14, 2021. Some 490 call center employees, including the firm’s third-party service providers, received the first dose of Sinovac’s CoronaVac jabs. (File photo courtesy of Bacolod City PIO)
BACOLOD CITY – The city government here is finalizing plans for the rollout of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines for workers of business process outsourcing (BPO) firms assigned on night shift.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia said on Wednesday he has instructed the Emergency Operations Center-Task Force (EOC-TF) to implement a vaccination program for call center employees, assigned during the graveyard shift, to fast track vaccination for as many residents as possible.
“I know how important is our BPO industry to the economic life of the city that is why we are targeting those in the evening or graveyard shift. We saw their enthusiasm to get vaccinated so we will go out of our way to serve (them),” the mayor added.
City Administrator Em Ang, concurrent EOC-TF executive director, said the on-site vaccination for call center employees will be scheduled from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.
“They cannot make it to the scheduled vaccination (during the day) as graveyard shift agents would rather rest once they are home early in the morning,” Ang said.
On August 14, some 1,602 workers from two BPO companies have been inoculated against Covid-19 in separate venues.
Leonardia led the rollouts using Sinovac’s CoronaVac jabs at Ayala Malls Capitol Central vaccination center for employees of Teleperformance, and onsite for personnel of two facilities of PanAsiatic Solutions.
Some 490 employees of Teleperformance Bacolod, including third-party service providers, received the first dose while 1,112 workers of PanAsiatic were given the initial dose as well.
Data of EOC-TF showed at least 4,326 BPO employees have already been vaccinated, including those from Transcom, 1,600; PanAsiatic Solutions, 1,130; Teleperformance, 1,096; Concentrix, 182; IQOR, 130; Ubiquity, 100; ARB, 66, and contractual workers, 20.
On scheduled days of the week, the city government also holds Covid-19 vaccination in barangay gymnasiums, school clusters, and six mall-based vaccination sites located in SMX Convention Center at SM City Bacolod, Ayala Malls Capitol Central, Robinsons Place Bacolod, CityMall Goldenfield, CityMall Mandalagan, and Gaisano Grand Mall. (PNA)
