Lacson made the statement in response to the call of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for local government units (LGUs) to support his administration’s booster shot drive against coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
Marcos made the call “so that face-to-face classes could resume and the country may reopen its economy.”
In a virtual speech before the newly elected governors and mayors in Malacañang on Friday night, Marcos cited the importance of booster shots in building a wall of immunity and moving on from the pandemic.
Marcos also said he was open to making face masks optional and said there will no longer be wide lockdowns in the country despite the sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 cases.
“Let’s do this booster rollout and we can make sure (that) there is no more lockdown as we really don’t want to have lockdowns anymore,” Marcos said.
For his part, Lacson said, “at the end of the road, we would like to go back to normal and making the use of facemask optional is a step in that direction.”
He said that local officials have been reminded to push their respective vaccination drives, especially the poor performers.
Lacson, however, admitted that vaccination rates in the province are still below our targets.