Khatrina, 36 years old and well into the second trimester of her pregnancy just emerged from the monitoring area, the final step of the vaccination being conducted by the Pasay City government at the Galeon, Mall of Asia Complex.
“This feeling is empowering. Being vaccinated gives you a sense of freedom and a sense of protection especially in this pandemic,” she said.
More like her have lined up at the giga vaccination center in Pasay City, with its cathedral-high ceiling and 8,000 square meters of floor space that allow for proper air flow and could accommodate over 2,000 persons being inoculated a day.
This was an offshoot of SM’s partnerships with various local governments to be the venue of their vaccination program nationwide. “Doing the vaccination here in the malls is a good thing because the goal is to reach as many people as you can and we all know that Filipinos love to go to the malls,” Khatrina said.
With its commitment to promote safe and healthy communities, SM provides comfortable, convenient, safe and accessible vaccination venues all over the country. Around one million COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in over 60 malls around the country. SM malls also launched the Vax, Shop & Dine rewards program to give incentives to the vaccinated. Several SM malls have also earned their Safety Seals from their respective local governments which affirm their compliance to public health standards set by the government.
Christie, who works as a cashier at SM Hypermarket at the Mall of Asia received her first dose from the company last June 27 as soon as COVID-19 vaccine doses arrived.
“Nagpavaccine po kami para sa kaligtasan ng pamilya namin, ng mga katrabaho namin at mga taong nakakasalamuha namin (We got vaccinated for the safety of our families, our colleagues at work and the people we deal with),” she said.
“As a front liner, marami po kaming nakakasalamuha so ginawa namin ito para maramdaman ng mga customer na safe sila when we’re around (As a front liner, we deal with a lot of people so we did this to make the customers feel safe when we’re around),” she added.
Jack Conrado Dones who works as a bagger for SM Hypermarket also feels safer after getting inoculated.
“Laki ng pakinabang ng bakuna kasi nakakapagtrabaho po ako ng maigi at safe ang family ko (There is a big benefit to getting vaccinated. I feel I can work better and my family is safe),” he said.
SM has intensified its vaccination drive for thousands of its employees with two-thirds of the workforce already inoculated to date.
SM ordered over 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines for its employees and for donation to the National Government. As it works towards completing the inoculation program with the next shipment of vaccines, SM is committed to its concerted response to boost national recovery.
