FILE PHOTO: Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion. Image grabbed from PCOO video
MANILA, Philippines — By March or April, establishments in the National Capital Region (NCR) should require a person to show upon entry proof of having received a booster shot against COVID-19.
Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said this Thursday, noting that such a measure would ensure that a person is still protected against COVID-19 since the effect of primary doses wanes after a few months.
“I’m not saying that we will implement the boosters right away. We have to plan that once NCR—because NCR was the first in hitting 90 percent of vaccination of first and second dose—now, we are rolling out the boosters,” he noted in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel’s Rundown.
READ: Antibodies from Sinovac’s COVID-19 shot fade after about 6 months, booster helps–study
“So, maybe in a month or two, we should now request that the people show their booster cards. So, we give it time for NCR,” he added.
READ: 106% of NCR’s population protection target now fully vaxxed vs COVID
For areas outside NCR or Metro Manila, Concepcion said local government units (LGUs) would have the discretion when to implement the proposed policy.
“For the rest of the provinces, let the LGUs decide when they will request that the booster cards be shown to as an entry [requirement],” he said.
“Not all will implement this nationwide because… many areas are still in their first and second dose of vaccination,” he also said.
Concepcion continued: “We have to plan for this. In other words, we want to make sure that people are still protected with the vaccines at a certain point in time, depending [on] when you take it, it will definitely wane, and you may be unprotected.”
READ: Palace urges fully vaxxed Pinoys to get booster shots
As of February 1, around 7.5 million people in the country have received their booster doses while at least 59.1 million people are fully vaccinated.