House Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero on Sunday, October 31, called for the full reopening of the National Capital Region (NCR) economy as target population vaccination moves close to 100 percent.
The House leader and 1-PACMAN Party-list congressman urged the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to now open all businesses in Metro Manila to fully vaccinated individuals.
“With the NCR hitting over 80% of the target population now fully vaccinated, we need now to open our domestic economy to its full scale,” Romero said.
The partylist representative said the IATF may follow the economic reopening made by the United States.
“Back-to-normal life is now possible. This is exactly what the United States is doing and we should follow suit in order for our economy to gain traction,” he added.
“The vaccination cards will be the passport of fully vaccinated individuals to enter in and out of business establishments. ‘No vaccination card, No entry’ can be implemented similarly to the US and other countries around the world.”
Romero noted the importance of allowing full reopening of businesses in Metro Manila for the country’s economic recovery from recession caused by the pandemic.
A businessman and sportsman, Romero made the proposal after a 95% vaccination rate was attained in NCR.
The IATF recently announced that a total of 9,374,416 people or 95.89% of the target population in Metro Manila already received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while 8,498,986 individuals or 86.93% are already fully vaccinated.
The government decided to retain Alert Level 3 in Metro Manila where various businesses operate on a 30- to 50-percent capacity. (Melvin Sarangay)