President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday renewed his call to Filipinos to get their booster shots against Covid-19, asking them not to wait for a spike in cases and hospitalizations.

He made this call after visiting the Pasig City Sports Center to personally observe the city’s ongoing vaccination drive.

“Wala naman tayong ibang panlaban dito kung hindi ang vaccine. Huwag na po natin hintayin na dumami pa ang mga kaso at maging mahirap na naman ang ating pagpunta sa trabaho, ang ating paglabas ng bahay (We have no other defense against this other than the vaccine. Let’s not wait for the cases to increase and for it to become difficult for us to go to work, to leave our homes),” he said in a speech during the vaccination visit in Pasig City.

Marcos urged the public to convince their families and loved ones to get boosted against Covid-19, especially since face-to-face classes are scheduled to resume next month.

“Hikayatin ninyo ‘yung mga kasamahan ninyo, ‘yung pamilya ninyo lahat, sabihin ninyo lahat na magpa-booster na para hindi niyo na kailangan alalahanin itong Covid na ito para masasabi natin dito sa Pilipinas ay tapos na (Encourage our colleagues, family, everyone, tell them to get boosted so you no longer have to worry about Covid),” he added.

He reiterated his promise that there will be no need to impose lockdowns despite the increase in Covid-19 infections.

“Uulitin ko sa aking palagay kaya naman nating makontrol ito kaya’t hindi na tayo maglo-lockdown (I will repeat, in my opinion, we can control this so we will not have another lockdown),” he said.

Marcos made the same promise in his first State of the Nation Address on July 25.

He reminded the public to continue observing minimum public health standards such as wearing of face masks, washing of hands and physical distancing.

Marcos also congratulated the Pasig city government for its successful rollout of booster vaccinations.

To date, around 71.6 million Filipinos have already been vaccinated with the primary series or the first two doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

However, only 15 million got their booster jabs. (PNA)