The national government has opened the discussion on the issuance of vaccine passes that would allow vaccinated Filipinos greater economic mobility, according to a Palace adviser.
In a Let’s Go Bakuna webinar hosted by GoNegosyo on Monday, Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said an example of greater mobility is to allow seniors who have already been vaccinated to go to malls or dine-in restaurants.
Concepcion said that eventually, the vaccine cards distributed by local government units (LGU) should be transformed into a national vaccine card or a national health card.
“Our stake here is the economy and the only way we can balance both lives and livelihoods, a perfect balance, is really achieving herd immunity or vaccinating a greater number of Filipino people in this country,” Concepcion said.
Greater mobility also means allowing vaccinated Filipinos to travel in domestic destinations without requiring them to produce negative RT-PCR test results and allowing restaurants to increase dine-in capacity, provided the increase is to account for vaccinated individuals.
“That’s our proposal because they would have taken the vaccine and we do away with all of this health clearance of the different LGUs and the list goes on,” Concepcion said.
Concepcion said that some sectors may view this as discriminatory but more must be done to convince more Filipinos to get vaccinated to attain herd immunity.
The National Capital Region (NCR) is home to around 13 million Filipinos, while the NCR Plus region has a population of 25 million.
Concepcion said vaccinating at least 50 percent of the population of NCR Plus would be a big help in allowing more Filipinos greater mobility and boost economic growth.
He noted that the United States has already achieved 50 percent herd immunity. This has allowed them to open restaurants, movie theaters, and allow people to watch NBA games in person.
“The benefits of more people getting vaccinated clearly shows that we can open up the economy safely and this is the pathway moving forward,” Concepcion said.
Vaccination
During the event, Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the country has already breached the 5-million mark in terms of vaccination. This means the government has tripled the vaccination from 1 million in March and April to over 3 million in May.
As of May 30, 5.12 million jabs have been administered by the government and 1.21 million of these Filipinos are fully vaccinated or have completed both doses of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine.
Galvez said there is a long way to go in vaccination, particularly when it comes to seniors. Only 13.99 percent or 1.38 million out of the 9.4 million seniors nationwide have been vaccinated.
He said in order to reach out to more seniors and even persons with disabilities, LGUs have started home vaccinations. The government has also expanded its target to families getting vaccinated at the same time rather than individuals.
“The national government is recalibrating its approach to vaccine hesitancy. From targeting individuals, we are now shifting our focus to families, which is the foundation of our society. Last week, the IATF has decided to include the families of health-care workers as A1 [priority],” said Galvez.
Galvez said vaccine supply is expected to pick up by June, July, and August. The government, under the tripartite agreement with the private sector, was able to secure 150 million doses from different vaccine manufacturers.
He said the country’s target of achieving protection for the country’s adult population of 50 million to 70 million this year remains within reach.
With this, the government is confident that Filipinos will be able to celebrate Christmas this year. Concepcion said the fourth quarter looks promising for economic growth.
This is mainly because of the progress in vaccinations, the holiday spending which is common for Filipino families, and election spending which is expected to start this year.
Near collapse
Private sector representatives also weighed in on vaccinations. This included Restaurant Owners of the Philippines President Eric Teng who said their industry is already near a collapse because of lockdowns.
Teng said the restaurant industry may not be able to recover their 2019 levels until 2025. This means the government should not only be talking about vaccines and vaccinations but also ways to recover from the economic crisis.
He added that more data is needed. Based on limited information Teng gathered from the Quezon City government, only half a percent of cases can actually be traced back to dine-in experiences in restaurants.
This means, Teng said, there is a higher chance for Filipinos to get infected on their way home than to dine-in restaurants. However, mobility restrictions and limits to restaurant capacity prevent more people from their dine-in experience.
“We are on the verge of collapse. We cannot function on another 442 days of lockdown. We need a solution to live in a world where Covid is a permanent fact of life,” Teng said.
Before the pandemic, Teng said there are around 18,000 full service restaurants in the country. However, due to the lockdown, less than half of these firms now exist.
The industry’s earnings have also taken a severe beating and registered a 60-percent reduction in their revenues. The restaurant industry is one of the most affected by the lockdown.
Image courtesy of AP/Aaron Favila
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