Duque appeals to LGUs: Ramp up vaccine booster coverage of residents

Elderly woman gets her second vaccine booster, but others may not even need it at all. —RICHARD A. REYES 

MANILA, Philippines — Outgoing Health Secretary Francisco Duque III is calling on newly elected local chief executives to implement measures to ramp up the vaccine booster coverage of residents in their respective areas, even proposing a mandatory booster coverage policy in some localities.

“I would like to appeal across the local chief executives who have been newly elected ay gawin nilang lahat para yung booster ng kanilang constituents ay tumaas [to do all they can do to increase the booster coverage among their constituents],” Duque said during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay on Wednesday.

“The LGUs (local government units) in the exercise of their local autonomy, pwede silang gumawa ng ganon e [they can do that], parang [something akin to] a quasi-mandatory ordinance or a mandatory booster coverage policy so I hope they will look into this,” he added.

He noted that previously, a “no vaccination, no ride” policy has been implemented in the nation’s capital. However, the policy was met with backlash when it was imposed.

Meanwhile, Duque acknowledged the efforts being made by LGUs in the government’s initial vaccination rollout.

“Of course, many of them have done very well in terms of incentivizing vaccination of the primary series and I hope they do even much better in ramping up the booster rate with incentives,” the health chief said.

So far, 70 percent of the government’s 77-million target population has completed their primary vaccination against COVID-19.

“Ten percent na lang [There’s only 10 percent left], seven million na lang ang kailangan nilang (next administration) bunuin para magkaroon ng [they only need to fully vaccinate seven more million individuals] complete vaccination ang [of] 77 million Filipinos,” Duque noted.

But the number of Filipinos who have received their vaccine booster shot remains “quite anemic,” the health secretary said in a recent interview.

“Ang challenge talaga ay booster dose [The real challenge is the booster dose],” he added.

/MUF