Two biggest rivals in the fast food industry are teaming up for a cause.
Jollibee and McDonald’s Philippines have offered their restaurants as COVID-19 vaccination venues to encourage more Filipinos to get inoculated against the coronavirus and to assist the government in meeting its target.
Their nationwide branches will participate, with a focus on Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and other key cities outside Metro Manila.
The initiative, if proposed, will run for two weeks in November to help local government units (LGU) administer COVID-19 vaccines to Filipinos, including teenagers.
The restaurant brands will work with LGUs where their branches are located. The government units will be responsible for implementing the vaccination program, including their storage and disposal.
“Our teams can work with the DOH regional offices to ensure safety measures and proper implementation of the vaccination in the identified stores to be used as vaccination sites. We expect that we can achieve 150 to 300+ jabs per day depending on the location, size and store layout,” Pepot Miñana, chief sustainability and public affairs Officer of Jollibee Group, said.
The proposal has been endorsed by National Task Force Against COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez and deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon to LGUs all over the country.
Both Jollibee and McDonald’s are supporters of Taskforce T3‘s “Ingat Angat, Bakuna Lahat” campaign which assists the government in the inoculation by providing private sector expertise in logistics and generating demand for vaccination.
The Taskforce T3 is a multi-sectoral public-private consortium working closely with NTF Against COVID-19, the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Jollibee and McDonald’s are known as the ultimate competitors in the fast food industry in the Philippines.
Last June, the American brand denied having smeared the name of the homegrown fast food chain when a viral post featuring the former’s logo surfaced amid the “fried towel” incident.
At that time, Jollibee was accused of reportedly serving a “fried towel” to a customer via a food delivery app.
An online post featuring McDonald’s logo, their color and their chicken meal has emerged with the caption: “Our competitor threw in the towel.” But McDonald’s itself responded that it “would not produce or release any disparaging material against any brand.”
Jollibee previously said that it would conduct an internal investigation and issue reminders to its stores on strictly adhering to food preparation protocols.
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