A nationwide mobility restriction on the unvaccinated has been strongly pushed by Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship Jose “Joey” Ma. Concepcion III to protect them from the highly transmissible Omicron variant and as the way forward to sustain recovery and open the economy safely.

“This the way forward,” said Concepcion during the Laging Handa Public Briefing as he urged mayors and governors all over the country to follow the move of Metro Manila Mayors to restrict the movement of the unvaccinated.

He warned against a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” adding “We are trying to move from pandemic stage to endemic stage,” to be able to live with the virus and move forward.

“I hope mayors and governors will follow the Metro Manila Mayors,” he said. “That is what we are pushing hard,” he added. Thus, he admitted, of greater pressure for the unvaccinated to get their shots to end the pandemic so business will thrive.

He explained this is not depriving the rights of movement of the unvaccinated, but this is just to protect them from getting infected because numbers show that those hospitalized are mostly the unvaccinated.

Thus, he warned against overwhelming the country’s health system and the best way to prevent that is to ensure that the unvaccinated to stay home because they are most vulnerable because if they get infected there is a strong possibility that their health situation can get severe.

If those vaccinated are the ones being infected, they have already the protection and their situation is not likely to get serious. Concepcion noted that even if the current 3,000 COVID cases in Metro Manila will surge to 10,000 cases, but mild, they can just stay home and get well. This will prevent the hospital system from getting overwhelmed.

He also stressed that government buying vaccines is not sustainable as it costs huge money that already run into trillions of pesos. Thus, he stressed the need for the private sector’s help but this can only be done if there is a vibrant economy for business to be able to pay taxes and buy the vaccines.

“If we want to end this pandemic, we have to do our part, get vaccinated,” he said.

Meanwhile, Concepcion downplayed the impact of the Level 3 Alert System impact on the economy stressing that the first quarter has always been slow for businesses. But the last quarter had been saved already as the economy was placed under a more relaxed Level 2 system enabling the business to earn, pay debts, and pay the 13th month pay.

What is important, he said, is to protect the second and third quarters of the year which have bigger business potential.