Following the recent uptick in daily COVID-19 cases, Speaker Lord Allan Velasco is urging Filipinos to remain vigilant and continue all public health precautions until the country has been broadly immunized against the deadly disease.
“While we understand that more businesses are reopening and
people want to resume normal activities, we have to maintain our health
protocols until the COVID-19 threat is effectively addressed by our vaccination
program,” Velasco said.
For the third straight day, the Philippines on Sunday logged
over 3,000 new COVID-19 infections, with Metro Manila registering faster rate
of increase similar to July 2020 levels.
With this development, the OCTA Research projected that the
country may reach up to 6,000 new COVID-19 cases per day by the end of March.
As numbers are rising again one year into the pandemic,
Velasco said that vigilance in following all recommended health and safety
protocols is “more critical now than ever.”
Velasco said the arrival of the life-saving vaccine in the country
and its subsequent rollout should not be a reason to be complacent.
“Now is not the time to let our guard down,” Velasco pointed
out. “We have to wait until such time a greater number of Filipinos are
vaccinated and herd immunity has been achieved.”
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte recently signed into law the
COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021, which Velasco principally authored in
the House of Representatives.
The law seeks to expedite the purchase and administration of
COVID-19 vaccines and set up an indemnity fund to compensate individuals who
will experience adverse effects after vaccination.
With this new law, Velasco said the Philippines will now be
in a better position to defeat the virus and protect the health of its 110
million people.
“This landmark legislation was designed to fast-track the
procurement and administration of the life-saving vaccine against the deadly
coronavirus to a greater number of Filipinos,” the House chief said.
Velasco earlier said he was more than willing to get vaccinated
against COVID-19 in public to convince Filipinos that the vaccine is safe and
necessary.
According to Velasco, elected officials like him should be
“at the forefront” of the government’s vaccination campaign to encourage
everyone to get inoculated against the illness that has already killed more
than 12,500 people nationwide. - HRP
