“We are not safe until everyone is safe.”
AKO-BICOL Party-list Representative Alfredo Garbin Jr. urges the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ensure protection among its staff by equipping them with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccines so that more Filipinos would be encouraged to register and vote.
Additionally, Garbin proposes that April 2022 should be the “absolute deadline” in achieving herd immunity.
Implemented by the government, herd immunity is attained when at least 60 to 70 percent of the 110 million national populace is vaccinated against the deadly virus.
“We are not safe until everyone is safe. We are not all protected from the coronavirus if not everyone is vaccinated. The herd immunity target is simply a minimum,” Garbin said. “National funding for COVID-19 vaccination is not enough, so LGUs with the political will and financial means are stepping up and stepping forward to help.”
“No mayor, governor, barangay chairperson, or other elected LGU official will get another term if only half of their constituents get vaccinated. They and neither are we in Congress that insane to commit political suicide with the DILG suggestion of 50 percent vaccination of the LGU population,” he added.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. recently disclosed that the country will be purchasing 148 million doses from seven international brands including Pfizer-BioNTech, Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Novovax, Johnson and Johnson, Gamaleya and Bharat BioTech.
Photo Credit: Facebook/Cong. Alfredo ‘Pido’ Garbin, Jr.