The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP) has assured that it will support the call of President Ferdinand “Bongbong’’ Marcos Jr. in enhancing the rollout of the Covid-19 booster shots in the country’s various localities.

LPP national president Presbitero Velasco Jr. stressed that with the recent rise in Covid-19 cases, the booster shot is the most effective tool to prevent another surge of the infection.

"The League of Provinces of the Philippines or league of the governors are in full support of the appeal of President Marcos, Jr. to exert best efforts to implement the booster campaign rollout," Velasco said.

"The booster shots will prevent the surge of Covid-19 infection which is evident from the steady increase of infections in the past days," he added.

Velasco, who is also the governor of Marinduque, also noted that the governors made a pledge of strictly enforcing the health protocols in their respective areas like the wearing of face masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Earlier, Marcos who was tested positive for covid-19 for the second time ordered all governors and mayors to strengthen the rollout of booster shots in preparation for the return of the in-person classes and to prevent another lockdown that had previously crippled the country’s economy.

In his virtual message in a meeting in Malacañang on July 8, Marcos stressed the urgency to focus on having the students get their booster shots.

"Please let us do what we did the last time. The local governments did a very, very good job sa vaccine rollout last year. Ulitin lang natin minsan, para sa booster shot, lalong-lalo na para sa mga bata at makabalik na ‘yung mga bata sa full-on face-to-face classes (we will do it again one more time, for the booster shot, especially for the children to enable them to attend face-to-face classes),’’ he added.

The President emphasized that the booster shots will normalize the business transactions and bring back the country’s economy back on its feet.

He said he is also open to making the wearing of face masks optional provided that the results of the booster rollout are excellent. (Chito A. Chavez)