Dela Rosa urges IATF to ensure herd immunity before the 2022 polls

SENATOR Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa has said that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) should make sure that the country has already achieved herd immunity before the 2022 national elections.

Dela Rosa made this manifestation during Wednesday's Senate session following Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri's privilege speech disclosing that based on a recent Ulat ng Bayan survey, almost 50 percent of Filipinos won't vote in the forthcoming polls because of fear of getting infected by COVID-19.

"Kaya kailangan talaga na 'yung ating IATF siguruhin na magkakaroon tayo ng herd immunity before magkakaroon ng election para lahat ay walang takot na lumabas at bumoto," Dela Rosa said.

The Mindanaoan senator also expressed support to Zubiri's call for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to address the administrative problems and ensure that proper health protocols are in place during the polls through the issuance of resolutions such as practicing health protocols in the election sites, or by the passage of a law extending the period of election beyond one day to avoid over-crowding the polling precincts.

"I would like to support lahat ng points raised by my kababayan from Mindanao in his privilege speech, lalong-lalo na 'yung punto na sinasabi niya na baka puwede gawin ng Comelec na dalawang araw ang election para hindi magkukumpol-kumpol doon sa presinto ang mga botante," Dela Rosa said.

"Kasi nga, Mr. President (Vicente Sotto III), if itong election na ito sa 2022 will not reflect the true will of the Filipino people, baka magkakaroon tayo ng presidente or vice president na masasabi nating 'president of the republic of the vaccinated' or 'president of the republic of walang takot sa Covid'," Dela Rosa further noted.

The National Task Force Against COVID-19 leaders gave the assurance last week that the COVID-19 vaccination program of the national government is on track and herd immunity is achievable by the latter part of the year as 164 million doses of vaccines have been secured and will be steadily delivered in the next 6 months. Of this number, the Philippines has received more than 31 million to date.