Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion has asked the government to let private companies to operate at almost full capacity if 80 percent of the people in their respective buildings were already fully vaccinated.
In a statement, Concepcion said this proposal had the support of the country’s major mall and building owners, citing a meeting he had with top officials of SM Prime, Ayala Property Management, Alliance Global, Robinsons Land and Filinvest Land.
“We would like to propose to the government to allow us to implement safe spaces with an increased workforce capacity as soon as we reach 80 percent vaccination or herd immunity in our respective buildings,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Vaccination campaign status
“We want to send a clear message that work spaces are ‘safe spaces.’ We are also currently working on a roadmap that will set the milestones for our economic recovery,” he said.
The proposal to get more people back to their respective workspace was made despite the still sluggish pace of the government’s vaccination campaign.
According to data collated by herdimmunity.ph as of July 4, only 2.6 percent or more than 2.87 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated. At this rate, the site said it would take the country up to January 2023 to fully cover 70 million Filipinos and achieve herd immunity.
GCQ, MGCQ areas
But , the government has over the months eased the capacity restrictions for businesses to the extent that some are already allowed to work at 100 percent capacity.
For example, according to the latest advisory from the Department of Trade and Industry on business restrictions, retail stores that sell clothing and accessories are allowed to operate at 100 percent capacity in areas under general community quarantine (GCQ) and modified GCQ. INQ