Following the surge the country has experienced for the past weeks, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo Founder, Joey Concepcion, welcomed the plan to place NCR again under ECQ during this Holy Week, saying it will give the already burdened healthcare system a welcome break. This move will also help mitigate the continuously rising active cases in the National Capital Region topping all the regions with 301,519 total cases and 58,208 active cases, as of March 25, 2021.
“It should be fine since economic activity goes down during Lenten season,” said Concepcion.
Given this, Concepcion said it has become even more vital for the vaccination program to be rolled out smoothly.
Given this, Concepcion highlighted that it has become even more vital for the vaccination program to be rolled out smoothly and as fast as possible. “We really need these vaccines to come in. Hopefully, there will be no delays in the arrival of the vaccines, particularly with Novavax and Covaxin which we are helping our private sector access,” Concepcion said.
“Covaxin has applied for its EUA with our FDA, Novavax is still to apply. As for AstraZeneca, expect no delays, we should get the arrival schedules soon. Moderna from the Razon group will be coming in the 3rd and 4th quarter,” Concepcion added.
The country also faces another problem, aside from the vaccine supplies and logistics, there is a subpar acceptance rate among Filipinos, with the recent Pulse Asia survey showing that 6 in 10 Filipinos do not want to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Concepcion and the private sector are doing their best to curb this alarming fact.
“We have been active in educating our employees about the benefits and current misconceptions on the vaccines. Adding to this, we also assured them that we will take care of everything from the handling to the delivery of the doses. We just need them to join this fight as we need at least 70% of our population to attain herd immunity,” Concepcion stated.
“Procuring the vaccines has been difficult as the world’s supply is limited, and the demand is very high. With this, we are hoping that all vaccines that arrive be consumed, particularly for NCR where the epicenter of the surge is situated. This is also why together with our pioneer donors from Batch 1 of the “A Dose of Hope,” we decided to focus our donations on NCR—to ensure that the infection level would be brought down at the center. Succeeding in NCR, this would make our job of containing the virus easier. As we celebrate the Holy Week, let’s take this time to reflect—stay in our home if we don’t have essential travel or engagement,” Concepcion furthered. (PR)
