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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Vaccination to build a 'wall of defense' vs COVID-19 — Concepcion

Vaccination to build a 'wall of defense' vs COVID-19 — Concepcion

Published Jul 31, 2021 02:27 pm

In the face of the Delta coronavirus threat, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion has called for intensified vaccination of the people to save more lives and jobs.

A health worker administers a coronavirus vaccine to a Manila resident at a vaccination site inside a shopping mall in Manila on July 6, 2021. (Ali Vicoy/Manila Bulletin)

As more Filipinos get the jabbed, Concepcion said the country could build a "wall of defense" against the virus and eventually allow greater mobility for the vaccinated.

“We must prepare now and build our wall of defense by striving for herd immunity. If we do it now, we can save more lives and livelihoods,” Concepcion said in a statement Friday, July 30.

“We would like to save the lives especially of those who have not taken the vaccines. After all, we don't want to make this the pandemic of the unvaccinated,” he said.

Concepcion made the latest comment after testing czar Vince Dizon urged the private sector to complete their vaccination efforts in the National Capital Region Plus by August 15. The initial supply of vaccines procured by the private sector has started to arrive in the country.

The government has ruled that the COVID-19 vaccination will continue despite the planned imposition of the most restrictive lockdown in Metro Manila from August 6 to August 20, 2021. The Palace however reminded concerned authorities to ensure public transportation and vaccination sites would have mechanisms to implement minimum public health standards.

Concepcion and several other business leaders earlier voiced support for the two-week strict lockdown in the capital region as a preemptive step before the Delta spike spirals out of control. President Duterte has agreed to place Metro Manila back to enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) from August 6 to 20, 2021 as the country's COVID cases driven by the Delta variant continued to increase.

READ: Gov’t to continue COVID-19 vaccination in ECQ areas subject to health protocols

More than 7 million people have so far been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus since the government launched the inoculation program last March. Over 18 million doses have been administration from the 30 million doses of vaccine supply.

The government aims to inoculate 50 to 70 million Filipinos to reach herd immunity end of 2021 or early 2022.

Apart from the accelerated vaccination drive, Concepcion pressed for sustained efforts on "aggressive testing to detect who among us contracted COVID-19" as well as "intensive contact tracing to avert any possible infections from those already positive."

"While we are pushing for this lockdown, we hope that we also consider giving greater mobility for the fully-vaccinated individuals,” the President's adviser added.

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UNVACCINATED wall of defense Joey Concepcion covid-19 vaccination pandemic
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