Marcos orders LGUS to ramp up booster shots vs Covid-19

WITH only around two weeks left before the opening of classes this month, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. urged local government units (LGU) to ramp up their coronavirus disease (Covid-19) booster vaccination drive.

In a video message posted in his Facebook account during the weekend, Marcos expressed concern over the low number of fully vaccinated individuals who availed booster shots.

The president said that currently, 15.9 million Filipinos have availed their first booster shot, while 1.2 million got their second booster shot.

“This is not a good number compared to our target of 100 percent,” he added. “That is why we are appealing to our LGUS to become aggressive in their [vaccination drive] campaign.”

As of last Sunday, data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed the 71.52 million individuals who completed their primary dose, only around 23 percent 16.59 million have availed of their booster shots.

Health experts said fully vaccinated individuals should get their booster shots since the effectivity of the Covid-19 jabs wane overtime.

Marcos said increasing the number of booster recipients, particularly among students, will minimize the risk posed by Covid-19 infection after the opening of the new school year on August 22, 2022 with a partial face-to-face classes.

The Department of Education (Deped) earlier said it plans to fully resume face-to-face classes for 15.2 million enrollees in all of its schools by November.

The scheme, Marcos said, will not only be beneficial to students, but also to the economy since it is expected to translate to operations to the transport sector, retail, particularly for school supplies.

“Many industries will benefit from this step [of the government] so let us make sure we will be fully prepared for it,” Marcos said.