By NG Seruela
Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Secretary Joey Concepcion confirmed that he coordinated with Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III to issue a memorandum encouraging all employees to get vaccinated for COVID-19.
In a Laging Handa public briefing on Tuesday (May 4), Concepcion said if only 70% of employees will be vaccinated, the country may not achieve herd immunity because the 30% will still be able to infect the vaccinated individuals.
“Kung 70% lang sa mga empleyado ang kukuha ng bakuna, hindi natin maa-achieve iyong herd immunity sa bansa natin. At iyong mga factory safety namin, kapag 70%, paano ang mangyayari sa mga 30%?
“Iyong 30% ay puwede pa ring ma-infect iyong mga 70%, kasi iyong efficacy ng mga bakuna hindi naman 100%, it ranges between 50% to as high as 90%, depending iyong vaccine brand.”
He said 1.3 million AstraZeneca doses out of 17 million will arrive in June, and will cover around 100 companies. More doses will arrive in July.
“Kailangan talaga iyong focus natin pagdating ng AstraZeneca vaccine dito sa June. Marami iyan, 17 million. Magsisimula iyan sa 1.3 million doses ang unang darating dito sa buwan ng Hunyo. So, that is going to help about close to 100 companies…Iyon ang unang batch, dalawang batch iyan eh. Iyong kasunod na batch darating ng mga July onward,” he said.
He also said that over 200 private sector companies will participate in the vaccine implementation.
Concepcion also emphasized that at least 80% of vaccine confidence among the public is needed.
“Vaccine confidence – kailangan at least 80%, and then vaccine implementation, kailangan pabilisan natin ang pagpapabakuna sa mga empleyado, kasi dapat mauna tayo sa mga variants kasi nagmu-mutate iyan. So the faster we implement, then we can stop this infection from going all over.”
He added that the “only solution to our pandemic problem and our economic problem is the vaccine,” and urged every citizen to “do their civic duty to take the vaccine.”
“That is the only way, there is no other solution. Iyong social distancing, wearing a face mask will not kill the virus, it will just slow it down and maybe bring it down, but never eradicate it. The only way to eradicate this COVID-19 is every citizen must take [the vaccine] and that’s why ‘Let’s Go Bakuna’ is the campaign of the private sector.” -jlo
