Presidential adviser reiterates proposal to restrict unvaccinated, wants ‘bubbles’ for fully vaccinated

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Ma. “Joey” Concepcion III has reiterated the need to restrict individuals unvaccinated against COVID-19, and impose bubbles for those fully vaccinated.

According to Concepcion, the Philippines should look into approaches being implemented overseas where vaccinations are mandated for a range of indoor gatherings in efforts to boost immunization initiatives.

“Whatever action we take should be toward moving to allowing an environment to be lockdown-free. We should aim for a future that is lockdown-free for the whole country,” he said in an emailed statement.

Concepcion earlier said the government should look into the possibility of imposing restrictions for individuals who have yet to be vaccinated, citing the spread of the COVID delta variant.

He said such restrictions could be implemented once local government units achieve a vaccination rate of 70% to 80%.

“When we talk of allowing only the vaccinated to enter public places like malls and restaurants, we can only do this in an LGU once we have achieved the target of getting 70 to 80% vaccinations in that LGU,” he explained.

The Philippines has received some 39.515 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines as of August 11, 2021, of which a total of 24.479 million have been inoculated as of August 8, 2021.

Broken down, some 11.391 have received their second dose, while 13.087 million have only taken one jab so far.

Metro Manila is under enhanced community quarantine, the strictest quarantine restrictions, until August 20, 2021. No guidance has been given so far as to what follows.

“I was hoping for a granular lockdown, but with the new delta variant, I felt we had to act immediately,” Concepcion said, “we made the right move.”

Moving forward, the presidential adviser noted the need to boost the vaccination rollout to avoid further lockdowns in the fourth quarter, when consumer spending is expected to increase.

Concepcion last week also said the private sector is looking into acquiring Pfizer vaccines for the children of their employees.

“These should be taken into consideration in making decisions because how we decide at this point will ultimately affect how fast the economy can safely recover by the end of the year,” he said.—AOL, GMA News