WHO urges election candidates to advocate COVID-19 vaccination, compliance to health protocols

An official of the World Health Organization (WHO) urged election candidates to advocate the importance of vaccination against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and the strict compliance to health protocols.
WHO Country Representative Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe made the statement as some contenders in the May 2022 elections conducted campaign activities.
“I wish that every candidate becomes an example and wears their masks and tries to maintain physical distancing. I know that when campaigning, that's not easy,” said Abeyasinghe in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel on Friday, Dec. 17.
“I wish that every candidate will advocate for people to go and get their vaccines as early as possible. Because this is coming together as a country, this is putting the national interest ahead of own political interests,” he added.
The WHO official underscored that the Philippines has enough supplies of COVID-19 vaccine.
“If we can do that, now that the Philippines has enough vaccines in the country, this is the opportunity for us to come together whatever political ideology you have, I think this is important,” he added.
Meanwhile, Abeyasinghe said that the WHO is supporting the administration of booster shots but emphasized the importance of giving the primary series first.
Based on the National Vaccination Dashboard, a total of 100,019,138 vaccine doses were already administered nationwide.