The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) urged eligible Filipinos to get their COVID-19 vaccine shots as the Delta variant of the coronavirus continues to pose a threat.
"Magpabakuna! Mahalaga ang pagpapabakuna upang labanan ang COVID-19 (Get vaccinated! Vaccination is important to fight COVID-19). The best protection is to get vaccinated," said PRC Chairman Senator Richard Gordon in a statement on Tuesday, July 20.
The PRC emphasized that the vaccine shots are essential “due to the rising threat of the COVID-19 Delta variant in the country which has already took the lives of three people,” citing data from the Department of Health.
“As the Delta Variant continues to wreak havoc across the world, COVID-19 is proving to be the pandemic of the unvaccinated. There have been outbreaks of cases in parts of the world that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk,” it said.
“To date, there are about 100 countries that have the Delta variant. The Delta variant, which was first detected in India, is significantly more contagious than the original variant of COVID-19,” it added.
The PRC also assured that it will continue its COVID-19 testing services.
"Patuloy ang Red Cross sa pagtetest at tayo ang nagunguna pagdating sa testing na mayroon ng higit na 3.5 million tests nationwide (The Red Cross will continue to provide testing services. We are leading when it comes to testing with over 3.5 million tests nationwide)," said Gordon.