San Juan City Mayor Francis Zamora expressed confidence on Tuesday, May 10, that the city can properly respond to future variants of Covid-19 with the help of his constituents.
In an interview with One News, Zamora was asked about his future plans for the city in case a new variant of Covid-19 develops or another pandemic occurs.
"Dito sa San Juan, all the rules, regulations, and guidelines that we implemented, nakikinig at sumusunod sila (San Juaneños). Kaya nga in spite of the fact na the first local transmission of Covid-19 here in the Philippines was detected here in San Juan, it really became our motivation na dito din po tapusin sa pamamagitan ng high vaccination rate. That was our driving force kaya talagang nagsumikap kami na mabakunahan ang buong populasyon natin (Here in San Juan, all San Juaneños listen and follow all rules, regulations and guidelines that we implemented against Covid-19. That's why in spite of the fact that the first local transmission of Covid-19 here in the Philippines was detected here in San Juan, it really became our motivation to end this pandemic here through high vaccination rate. That was our driving force, that’s why we worked hard to vaccinate our entire population)," Zamora said.
"Kung meron mang mga ibang variants na darating, meron naman tayong mga in placed na health and safety protocols na naiintindihan ng ating mga mamamayan (In case more variants come, we already have established health and safety protocols that our citizens understand)... It wasn’t hard for us to convince our people simply because we have to explain to them why, we have to educate them and inform them,” he added.
The mayor also lauded San Juaneños for observing restraint and strictly following the health and safety protocols mandated by the government against Covid-19. He added that the people have properly understood the benefits of these protocols.
As of May 10, the city has two active Covid-19 cases.
The local government said that it has already vaccinated 234,105 residents with their first dose, and a total of 232,381 individuals have been fully vaccinated.
A total of 86,821 people have also been given booster shots of the vaccine in San Juan.