Alden Richards tapped by DOH to help promote vaccination against COVID-19

Alden Richards is urging the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the latest “Resbakuna” commercial of the Department of Health.

On Ian Cruz’s “24 Oras” report Thursday, the Asia’s Multimedia Star shared that he had a COVID-19 scare in 2020 so he wanted to tell everyone to protect themselves by getting vaccinated.

“I got nervous and, of course, I got really worried because a friend of mine whom I’m always with tested positive for COVID-19,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

“After a 10-day isolation period and he got cleared of the virus, we realized how important it is to get Resbakuna,” he added.

In the DOH commercial, he said getting the vaccine meant preventing severe symptoms. He also urged the public to contact their respective health centers for concerns on the disease.

The new commercial was led by DOH in collaboration with GMA Network.

Earlier Thursday, the health department also celebrated having 10 million fully vaccinated Filipinos.

According to IATF Chairman and DOH Sec. Francisco Duque III, they will tap more celebrities to help spread the Resbakuna campaign to combat the virus.

“We’ll convince more to help in our campaign so we’ll reach the 50% population protection and the herd immunity target faster,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Margot Torres of the Ingat Angat initiative said appointing celebrities like Alden to convince others to be vaccinated served as proof that vaccines were safe.

Last month, Alden shared that he has received his dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. – Franchesca Viernes/RC, GMA News