"Do it for the country."

This was Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion's appeal to the public to get their booster shots against Covid-19, saying this is their duty to the country.

Concepcion made the appeal following reports that only 13.7 percent of Filipinos had received their booster shots as of April 13.

In an interview with ANC's "Headstart," Concepcion said taking the booster vaccines is the least that Filipinos can do to contribute to preserving the country’s economy and protecting their fellow Filipinos.

"Filipinos have to think of the country. Boosters will help the country," he said.

"There has to be something in them, a sense of duty to really take this booster shot," he added.

The Go Negosyo founder has observed that Filipinos have become lax in the fight against Covid-19 as infections have remained low. This led most to forget public health safety protocols and to believe that the Philippines has reached an “endemic state” and put off taking their booster shots.

“When people are comfortable, they say ‘I’ll just take my booster when cases start going up,’ but not realizing that these vaccines are time-bound and the government has purchased it, and it’s in the Philippines already,” Concepcion said.

To push booster uptake, Concepcion is gathering support from private sector establishments to grant incentives to customers who received the booster shot. He and a private sector alliance have also come together for a town hall meeting on April 25 to dialogue with key government officials and medical and data experts to tackle the ongoing need to maintain public health and safety standards and, more specifically, the ability of the country to maintain its wall of immunity through booster vaccinations.

The town hall meeting, entitled “Booster to the Max: Keeping the Wall of Immunity, Sustaining Successes Against Covid-19,” will be aired live over the Go Negosyo official Facebook page at 9 a.m. on April 25.

The event will be the final town hall meeting of the private sector with the Duterte administration. It will serve as a recap of the country’s pandemic response and will be a venue for suggestions to the private sector on moving forward in its pandemic response beyond June.