Vice President Leni Robredo said on Sunday, May 23, she is very open to making an infomercial with President Duterte encouraging Filipinos to get their COVID-19 jabs, noting that her own office has come up with programs to boost public confidence in vaccines.

Speaking on her weekly radio show, the vice president said she’s willing to do the infomercial, the idea of which was first floated by Senator Joel Villanueva last week to help with the “vaccine trust.”

“Anytime. Sabihin lang sa akin kung ano gagawin ko, kailan, saan (they just let me know what I need to do, when, where),” Robredo stressed.

She noted that her office has come up with a vaccine question-and-answer on February 10 to encourage Filipinos to get vaccinated. The video is still available on their Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages.

“Wala pa nitong rollout at that time ginawa natin ito. Ginawa natin itong video na ‘to para makatulong sa (There is no rollout yet at that time that we did this. We did this video to help in) vaccine awareness, vaccine campaign,” she said.

READ: https://mb.com.ph/2021/02/10/robredo-to-filipinos-dont-be-afraid-of-covid-vaccination/

Right now, her office is working with volunteer creatives and artists to release another infomercial about the vaccine in a bid to boost the public’s confidence in getting inoculated.

Surveys showed that more than 47 percent of Filipinos are unwilling to take the COVID-19 jab. It will take 70 percent of the population vaccinated against COVID-19 to reach herd immunity, which occurs when a large portion of the community becomes immune to the virus.

“Kung kinakailangan kami dalawa ni Pangulo ako anytime. Sabihin ko talaga dapat pinagtutulungan natin kung papaano lumakas ang tiwala ng tao sa pagpapabakuna (If it’s needed for me and the President, I’m willing anytime. I will really say that we need to help each other on how to boost the public’s trust in getting vaccinated),” Robredo said.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, however, earlier said that the vice president needs to enlighten the public about her stand on China’s Coronavac vaccine, which was developed by Sinovac-Biotech.

In the past, Robredo backed a healthcare workers’ group’s call to review the China-made vaccines because it missed a step in the approval process here. But since getting approval from the country’s governing agencies, she stopped criticizing the process by which Sinovac got its authorization.

Her spokesperson Barry Gutierrez had previously said that she will not ask for any condition before doing the infomercial with Duterte.

The country’s top two officials’ relationship has been rocky since Robredo started criticizing the government’s bloody war on drugs during the early months of the Duterte administration in 2016.