With new cases of infections still being recorded daily by health authorities, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. urged Filipinos to update their Covid-19 vaccination.
This despite the country’s current limited supply of Covid-19 jabs, which can be used as booster shots.
Last Wednesday, Marcos led officials of the Department of Health (DOH) for the launch of the bivalent Covid-19 vaccine at the Philippine Heart Center in Quezon City.
“Let this occasion serve as a call to every Filipino to continue doing your part, get updated on your Covid-19 vaccination, to prevent the resurgence as a means of honoring those who sacrificed their lives during the pandemic,” Marcos said in his speech during the event.
He also urged Filipinos, who have yet to receive their primary series of Covid-19 jabs, to get vaccinated against the disease.
Based on DOH’s Covid-19 tracker website, there are 8,270 registered active Covid-19 cases nationwide as of June 2023.
“Although the rest of society, the other sectors of our society have tried to move on and say the emergency is over and certainly in a way we can say that that is the case,” Marcos said.
“However, it is not over completely. And that is why we should not be complacent and that is why we institute programs like this which continue to seek to protect our vulnerable populace, the vulnerable sectors of our populace and that particular demographic in this case is that of the elderly,” he added.
The country received 390,000 doses of the said vaccines, which provides protection against the original Covid-19 strain and the Omicron subvariants, from the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.
DOH said it would allocate the said bivalent vaccine supply for health-care workers and senior citizens who received their second booster shots at least 4 to 6 months ago.
Health Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa said they are currently in talks with COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) to secure additional doses of the bivalent vaccines to vaccinate more Filipinos.
Image credits: PNA