PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has attributed the significant drop in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections to the government’s immunization drive.

In his taped Talk to the People delivered Monday night, Duterte viewed as “good news” the apparent decline in Covid-19 cases because of high vaccination turnout.

“Dahil sa bakuna, bumaba talaga ang hawaan. So kakaunti ang hawaan kasi kakaunti naman ‘yung tao na hindi nabakunahan. So, ‘yun ang magandang balita,” Duterte said.

For the past days, the Philippines recorded lower COVID-19 cases despite the presence of the more transmissible Delta coronavirus variant.

On Monday, the new COVID-19 infections cases recorded in the country were only 8,292, the lowest posted since August this year.

Duterte maintained that the only solution to defeating COVID-19 is to inoculate the majority of Filipinos.

He expressed confidence that with the intensified vaccination campaign, the country will have a “better and truly merry Christmas.”

“If we continue to ramp up the vaccination of our people, along with our consistent practice of mask — huwag pa rin ninyong tanggalin — hugas at iwas, and may the gradual resumption of our economic activities, then we can hope for a better and truly merry Christmas,” Duterte said.

He then renewed his call for those eligible to get vaccinated to protect themselves against the coronavirus amid the prevailing pandemic.

He made the appeal anew, as he acknowledged that there are still some Filipinos who are hesitant to receive the vaccine.

“Kaya iyan na lang ang ipagbilin ko sa’yo na sana sundin ninyo kasi iyan lang talaga ang pampawala ng sakit ng ulo sa bayan natin.

Magpabakuna. Alam ko marami pang ayaw eh,” Duterte said.

Duterte told his fellow Filipinos to grab the opportunity to get vaccinated against Covid-19, especially now that the country has an adequate vaccine supply.

“Meron tayong bakuna. Marami nang dumating,” he said. “We will make use of that so that we can help the country and our fellow human being.”

As of Monday, a total of 50,066,590 coronavirus vaccine doses have already been administered nationwide, based on the National COVID-19 Vaccination Dashboard uploaded on the official website of the Department of Health.

Around 23,360,489 individuals have been fully vaccinated, while 26,706,101 others have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the June 23 to 26 survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations, around 45 percent of Filipinos are now willing to get inoculated against COVID-19.

Only 24 percent are still uncertain about receiving the vaccine, while 21 percent do not want to get vaccinated.

The survey also found that 10 percent of the respondents have already been vaccinated, with 7 percent receiving the first dose and 3 percent already completing the two doses. Philippine News Agency