All of Bali's tourism workers have been vaccinated as of this week, the province's health agency chief has confirmed, as officials continue to gear up for the possibility of restarting full-scale tourism on the island.

"Right now, we can pretty much say that a hundred percent of the tourism workforce in Bali have been vaccinated," Bali Tourism Agency Chief I Putu Astawa said.

It's probably wise to be a little skeptical, especially when officials in Bali have actually stretched vaccination numbers before.

With Bali's economy and tourism industry deeply battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, hopes for a full reopening (that includes foreign tourists) have been expressed far and wide across the province.

A number of plans to reopen since the pandemic began had to be pushed back several times, as cases continue to soar on the island after periods of relatively low transmissions. The last couple of months, however, saw the worst toll of the pandemic yet for the island, though the public health crisis has been gradually easing recently.

"One of the ways deemed most effective to prevent COVID-19 transmission is with vaccination programs to develop herd immunity in the tourism sector," Astawa said.

On Monday, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said officials have yet to decide on a specific timeline to welcome foreign tourists to the island.

Source: https://coconuts.co/bali/news/balis-tourism-sector-fully-vaccinated-official-says