VACCINATION HUB. With sports activities restricted during the pandemic, San Miguel Corporation utilizes its SMC Sports Complex for its P1-billion Covid-19 vaccination program. The state-of-the-art facility, which was just completed last May, will be a dedicated site for SMC employees and can accommodate up to 800 individuals per day. (Contributed photo)
MANILA – The San Miguel Corporation (SMC) is making the most out of its new basketball center in a nice way.
The so-called "SMC Sports Complex" has been converted into a vaccination site for the SMC employees who are looking to be protected from the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
About 1,252 employees took part in a two-day vaccination event recently, in which they were inoculated with the first dose of Sinovac vaccines.
“To help decongest [Pasig] City’s vaccination venues and reduce the strain on health workers, we volunteered our new basketball facility and enlisted our own doctors and nurses to help Pasig City personnel in conducting vaccination here. We are very grateful to the Pasig city government for enabling some of our workers to already receive their vaccines,” SMC president Ramon Ang said on Monday.
He also said the conversion of the basketball hall into a vaccination hub is one way of SMC in helping the Philippines achieve population protection from Covid-19 as soon as possible.
“Vaccinating as many Filipinos as we can is important to reaching herd immunity and getting our economy back up. That is why we have been helping our LGUS (local government units) with their vaccination rollout, in whatever way we can. We have been hiring and deploying medical professionals to LGU vaccination sites. We’re also setting up vaccination sites both for the public and our A4 workers. The sports facility is one of the sites for our essential workers,” Ang said.
Situated inside the San Miguel Foods complex along Carlos P. Garcia Avenue in Pasig, the 5,013-square-meter building, which was opened last May, has three basketball courts that can host the SMC's three Philippine Basketball Association teams, the San Miguel Beermen, Barangay Ginebra, and Magnolia Hotshots, all at once in practice.
It also has a fitness gym with separate male and female lockers and shower rooms, as well as three viewing decks with toilets on the second floor.
“We are proud of this facility and the excellent job that our architects, engineers, and workers have put into building it and ensuring that it adheres to international standards. We are even prouder of this facility now because even it can’t be used by the teams yet, it is serving a meaningful purpose--protecting lives during the pandemic,” Ang said.
The SMC plans to continue utilizing the SMC Sports Complex as a vaccination center serving 800 employees per day. (PNA)
