Jaro Archbishop Jose Lazo has received the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) jab.
The Archdiocese of Jaro said the prelate got vaccinated on Monday, March 15.
"Last March 15, 2021, His Grace Most Rev. Jose Romeo O. Lazo, D.D., Archbishop of Jaro, got himself vaccinated with the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, as prescribed by physicians," the Archdiocese of Jaro Commission on Social Communications said in their Facebook page.
"This is one means of preparing himself for the successive pastoral activities he will be undertaking in the Archdiocese of Jaro," it further read.
Last January, Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said they are willing to get vaccinated in public if it can help build confidence in the vaccine campaign.
“If the Holy Father and the Pope Emeritus had themselves vaccinated (in public) and, in my estimation, it helps… if people would see me publicly vaccinated, then why not” he said in a virtual press conference after their two-day online plenary assembly.
“The point is because our people understandably have this fear of the vaccine. So if our being vaccinated is a big help, then why not,” Valles added.
A priest-molecular biologist, who was one of their speakers during their plenary assembly, also encouraged the bishops to allow themselves to be vaccinated publicly to encourage people and remove their fears of vaccination.
The bishops also decided to offer church facilities to be vaccination centers or facilities related to the vaccination program.
The government said it is targeting to inoculate at least 50 to 70 million individuals within the year.