Presidential candidate and survey frontrunner Bongbong Marcos urged Filipinos on Tuesday afternoon April 26 urged eligible Filipinos to get their booster shots, claiming that Covid-19 appeared to be "coming back".
Marcos was holding practically his first sit-down press conference on the campaign trail with local reporters in Cagayan de Oro when he removed his face mask after giving a long-winded answer to a question.
"Ang hirap nitong may mask. Bakunado naman kayong lahat? (It's hard to speak with this mask. Have you all been vaccinated?)" he said tongue-in-cheek, referring to the journalist present at the enclosed room.
He then issued his appeal for Filipinoa to get their booster shots.
"Sabihin mo sa lahat ng tao magpa-booster sila dahil parang bumabalik yung Covid eh. Para hindi na tayo mag-lockdown, ayoko...wag na tayo mag-lockdown (Tell every person to get their booster because it appears that Covid is coming back. So that we would no longer go into lockdowns, I don't...let's not go back to lockdowns)," the UniTeam Palace bet said.
Marcos didn't qualify what he meant by saying that Covid was "coming back".
"Everybody should get their booster shots. Everyone who is qualified to have a booster shot, they should get it already," he added, somewhat tearing a page off of President Duterte’s book.
The government is racing to administer to Filipinos some 27 million Covid-19 jabs that are reportedly set to expire in July.
"Huwag na nating antayin na tumaas nanaman ang numbers ng Covid at mapipilitan nanaman ang gobyerno na gumawa ng kung anu-anong polisiya na magiging handlang sa trabaho at sa negosyo (Let's not wait for Covid numbers to rise as this will once again force the government to create different policies that would become a hurdle to jobs and business)," he said.
"I hope that the message is going out that people who are qualified should already get their booster shot as soon as they can, just as an aside," Marcos added, before entertaining the next question. He rewore his mask for the remainder of the presser.