Malacañang said Tuesday that President Rodrigo Duterte's decision to ban individuals who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 in public places is for the common good.
Acting presidential spokesperson Karlo Nograles made the response when asked on the position of President Duterte's daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, that those unvaccinated against COVID-19 should not be discriminated against.
Sara made the statement during an interview with Davao City Disaster Radio, saying "they (unvaccinated) should not be discriminated against because they were given a choice."
"We respect the opinion of Mayor Sara, but the President is trying to protect the unvaccinated because we see the data that when you are unvaccinated, there is a higher chance of you getting infected with severe or critical COVID-19," Nograles said.
"The President is the father of the nation, so he is only trying to protect the unvaccinated. This is for the common good," he added.
Nograles said Tuesday that there are at least 28 million Filipinos who are still unvaccinated against COVID-19 as against 52.8 million Filipinos who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The government is eyeing to have 77 million fully vaccinated Filipinos against COVID-19 by the end of March and 90 million by the end of June 2022.
President Duterte earlier said he will arrest unvaccinated individuals outside their homes, but Interior Secretary Eduardo Año has since clarified that arrest is the last resort for uncooperative unvaccinated individuals outside their homes and that they will just be escorted back to their homes as a general rule.
The country posted 33,000 new COVID-19 cases in a day on January 10, the largest number of new cases since the pandemic started in March 2020. — RSJ, GMA News
This article Palace: Restricting movement of unvaccinated vs. COVID-19 is for common good was originally published in GMA News Online.
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