Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography on Friday, March 18 urged the Filipino public anew to get vaccinated after the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Task Force Against Covid-19 revealed that some Filipinos have been turning down jabs which in turn affects the country's vaccination rate.

“Ako po ay nakikiusap sa mga kababayan nating Pilipino, meron na pong 64 million Filipinos ang bakunado sa ngayon at napatunayan naman natin na kapag bakunado ka, maiiwasan po ang pagkalala ng sakit sa COVID-19 at pagkamatay (I am appealing to my countrymen, there are now 64 million vaccinated Filipinos and we have proven that if you are vaccinated, you can avoid having a severe Covid-19 {infection} and possible death),” Go said in an interview after the recent blessing and soft opening of the Davao Occidental General Hospital in Malita.

“So ano pa bang inaantay ninyo, nakikiusap kami sa inyo, wag na po natin hintayin na tumaas na naman ang kaso, magkasakit kayo at back to zero na naman tayo (So, what are you waiting for, we are appealing to you, let us wait for the case to rise, or getting ill and we will go back to zero),” he stressed.

NTF chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier revealed that the vaccination rate has “dramatically declined” month after month, plummeting by 68 percent to 8.7 million last February from a record high of 27.1 million in November. This prompted the government to schedule its fourth nationwide vaccination drive from March 10 to 12.

The government said that instead of holding another round of nationwide vaccination drive, it will instead focus on vaccinating areas with low inoculation rates and raise their vaccine coverage. It will also focus on areas that are yet to inoculate 70% to 80% of their elderlies.

In a separate statement issued on the same day, Go echoed the government's initiative to strengthen the vaccination drive in remote areas.

He also reminded them to ensure that Filipinos are well-protected from the virus before relaxing restrictions further.

“Palakasin pa natin ang pagbabakuna sa buong bansa lalo na sa malalayong lugar (Let us strengthen our vaccination nationwide especially in the far-flung places). Bago luwagan, siguraduhin muna nating may proteksyon ang ating mga kababayan dahil mahirap magback-to-zero kung biglang kumalat muli ang sakit (Before easing, let us first ensure that our countrymen are protected because it will be difficult if we are back to zero and there will sudden surge of the disease),” he said.

As some Metro Manila mayors and other local leaders are eyeing a shift to Alert Level 0, Go advised: “Sa ngayon, hintayin muna natin ang rekomendasyon ng Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases at desisyon ni Pangulong (Rodrigo) Duterte (For now, let us wait first for the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and the decision of President Duterte).”

The senator from Davao then reassured that the government would continue to implement measures based on good science.

“We will be guided by evidence-based recommendations of our experts and the IATF. After all, since Day 1 of the pandemic, all our measures are based on good science,” he said.

“Bilang chairman ng Senate Committee on Health, dapat patuloy nating maingat na binabalanse ang kabuhayan, ginhawa at kaligtasan ng ating mamamayan (As chairman of the Senate committee on health, we should continue to carefully balance the livelihood, comfort and safety of our citizenry),” he added.

In the event that the alert classification in the country would be downgraded to Alert Level 0, Go reminded Filipinos not to get complacent and to continue taking precautions until the pandemic is over.