Council wants environment frontliners included in A4 priority jab

CEBU, Philippines —  The Cebu City Council has supported environmental groups’ appeal for the inclusion of frontliners from the waste management sector in the government’s coronavirus vaccine rollout.

In a resolution penned by Councilor Alvin Dizon, the council expressed its support to the collective appeal of environmental groups led by the Ecowaste Coalition to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to include the environmental frontliners, both formal and informal waste workers, in the A4 priority population group under “Phase 1 – Priority Eligible A” for the ongoing immunization program.

The resolution was approved by the City Council Wednesday.

This, Dizon said, to provide health and economic justice for the marginalized groups exposed to occupational health risks from managing municipal solid waste, healthcare waste, commercial and industrial waste, and hazardous waste.

He said the global and national COVID-19 responses have presented unique and rapidly-shifting challenges to the promotion and protection of health and of human rights of people around the world.

“The women and men who are formally or informally involved in the management of municipal solid waste, healthcare waste, commercial and industrial waste, and hazardous waste continue to provide essential service despite the pandemic and considered as our society’s environmental frontliners,” he said.

Informal waste workers include the waste pickers or reclaimers, oftentimes referred to as scavengers, itinerant waste buyers, jumpers at collection trucks, electronic waste dismantlers, junk shop owners, and others engaged in the recovery of recyclable materials to generate income.

While, formal waste workers include the waste collection crew, waste truck drivers, street sweepers, and other waste and sanitation workers employed by the local government units, waste management companies, homeowners’ associations and the like.

Dizon said the protection of these waste workers through their inclusion in the priority population groups for COVID-19 vaccination is crucial because waste workers perform essential service to the community and environment and are engaged in a high-risk job that may involve contact with materials and surfaces possibly contaminated with the virus.

He added low levels of waste segregation at source increase waste workers’ exposure to infectious waste.

“Waste workers are prone to occupational health risks resulting from mixed waste disposal, their manual handling of waste, and their lack of protective gear,” said Dizon.

Dizon said lockdowns to contain the spread of COVID-19 have seriously disrupted the work of informal waste workers who are meager daily wage earners, pushing them further into hunger and poverty. — KQD (FREEMAN)