Concepcion wants booster card requirement starting June

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion proposed to require booster cards upon entering enclosed establishments come June.

“I understand it will take time for them to get the booster, but considering that vaccines are now more accessible, people are free to move around and we have  adequate supply, I think two and a half months or until June would be enough time to take the boosters,” Concepcion said in a statement on Thursday.

“We need this push. Right now there is no danger. The danger is in the next semester when the waning immunity might be felt already. And this is not counting the possibility that new variants might emerge,” he said.

Last week, Concepcion raised concern about the low booster uptake in the country as he proposed to redefine what a fully vaccinated person is.

The presidential adviser suggested that the term "fully vaccinated" be redefined as those who have received a booster dose.

He also proposed putting an expiry date on the validity of vaccination cards, which would then be replaced by booster cards once they expire.

Concepcion reiterated his call to make booster cards the new requirement, replacing vaccination cards as the document needed for entry into enclosed establishments and other spaces.

The presidential adviser sees the move as a way to speed up booster vaccinations and address the expiry of vaccines in stock by July this year. 

He warned of a “double whammy” by the second half of the year if COVID-19 cases would spike anew amid the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict, which could send commodity prices skyrocketing and cause further supply chain blockages.

“Our vaccines will not last until the end of the year and we need to encourage Filipinos to do their duty and take their boosters,” he said.—LDF, GMA News