For working hard, ensuring Pinoys vaccinated amid Omicron threat

HOUSE Majority Leader and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin G. Romualdez on Saturday hailed President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte for working hard in ensuring that many Filipinos are vaccinated amid fears of the Omicron variant of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19).

Romualdez lauded the Duterte administration and the local government units (LGUs) for successfully administering across the country more than eight million jabs in its three-day vaccination program from November 29 to December 1. “I commend the Duterte administration for ramping up COVID-19 vaccination nationwide to ensure a safe and healthy environment for Filipinos amidst the threat of heavily mutated coronavirus disease-19 variant Omicron,” said Romualdez, Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) President.

“We have to remain vigilant and give our full support to the national government’s goal of vaccinating all Filipinos to end the pandemic,” added Romualdez, a lawyer from the University of the Philippines (UP) and Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) President. Speaker Lord Allan Velasco also congratulated the “Duterte administration and all local government units across the country on the successful holding of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Days program dubbed as Bayanihan, Bakunahan.”

“Extending the special three-day vaccination drive for two days or until December 5 allowed more people to avail of the life-saving shots. We thank President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and other government officials behind the campaign for having the foresight to launch such a brilliant initiative to further protect our citizens against the coronavirus and its emerging variants,” Velasco said.

“The country’s vaccination campaign is already showing clear signs of success as the number of infections falling significantly in the past weeks. Despite this, we must strive to maintain the progress until we have inoculated enough Filipinos to get the pandemic under control. We therefore continue to encourage all those eligible to take the offer of a vaccination, especially during the second run of the Bayahinan, Bakunahan on Dec. 15 to 17. Getting vaccinated is our best defense against the deadly coronavirus,” Velasco said.

Deputy Speaker and Valenzuela City 2nd District Rep. Eric Martinez called for a continuous government effort amid the Philippines’ declining COVID-19 cases within the past week.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 Dashboard, the Philippines reported 4,964 cases in the last seven days.

Meanwhile, statistics from Worldometer reported a -46% weekly case percentage change for the country, one of the lowest in the world.

“We are slightly ahead of the virus for now based on the latest numbers, but there should be no room for complacency for all of us,” said Martinez.

“We must continue our momentum in vaccination rollouts across the country, most especially in administering booster shots for our frontliners, senior citizens, and high-risk individuals,” Martinez added.

Martinez continuously pushed for practicing minimum health protocols for all establisments and urge the government “not to let our guards down”.

With the threat of the Omicron variant still looming, Martinez reiterated his campaign for “extreme vigilance” in our borders for incoming passengers.

“The numbers bring good news to all of us for the approaching holiday season, yet we should still practice maximum caution for more delightful holidays,” he concluded.