Marcos urges LGUs to conduct booster rollout
The government may relax the pandemic alert levels and lift the face mask requirement if the rollout of COVID-19 booster shots is successful and if it is already safe to do so, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.
In a virtual speech before local executives last Friday, Marcos cited the need to conduct a booster rollout to ensure a safe resumption of in-person classes and to open the economy. He was supposed to meet with local executives in Malacañang but was forced to isolate himself and to address them virtually because he had tested positive for COVID-19 in an antigen test.
“So let us return to the idea of what we did last year na magkaroon ulit ng vaccine rollout. Gawin na natin ito para makatiyak na tayo. At pagka maging matagumpay ang ating booster rollout ay makikita naman natin siguro puwede na nating ibaba ang mga alert level, puwede na nating gawing optional ang mask (Let us have a vaccine rollout again. Let us do it to be sure. If our booster rollout succeeds, perhaps we can ease the alert level and make the wearing of face masks optional),” the president said.
“Pero hindi po natin gagawin ‘yan hanggang maliwanag na maliwanag na safe na talaga. Dahil although so far maganda naman ang takbo, hindi naman napupuno ang mga ospital. Ngunit kung hindi tayo maingat, mapupunta na naman tayo doon (We won’t do it until it’s clearly safe to do so. It’s going well so far, hospitals are not overwhelmed. But if we are not careful, we might return to that condition),” he added.
Marcos, who first contracted COVID-19 in 2020, said the booster rollout is needed to counter the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variants. He reiterated that the government no longer wants to impose lockdowns, which had forced the previous administration to spend billions in financial aid for affected sectors.
“I hope that you will be part of the effort that we have to bring us back to normal. This is really part of the effort to bring us back to normal,” Marcos said.
“Let us conduct this booster rollout and we can be sure that there would be no lockdowns. We really do not want to have lockdowns... Your booster will be the one that will be the answer for us to return to the opening of our society, opening of our economy, opening of our businesses. That’s what we are aiming for,” he added.
The administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte implemented the alert level system last year to allow local governments to enforce measures that are in line with their own risk assessment and to limit lockdowns to places with a high number of infections. It has also required the wearing of face masks regardless of alert status.
Marcos said Vice President Sara Duterte, who is also the education secretary, is planning a phased return to face-to-face classes. He said classes would start in August or September and students would be asked to go to schools two to three days a week. The plan is to conduct full in-person learning five days a week in November, he added.
“We think we agree entirely that the faceto-face classes should already begin,” Marcos said.