President Rodrigo Duterte said one thing that will make him happy before he steps down from office is to see that majority of the Filipino population gets protection against COVID-19.

In his prerecorded Talk to the People aired on Monday, Feb. 14, Duterte said Filipinos should understand that the dreaded COVID-19 is still in the country.

“If there is something that makes me happy when I go out of this office, maligaya ako kung malaman ko na halos lahat magpabakuna (I will be happy if I will find out that the majority are vaccinated),” he said.

Duterte said the government is eyeing a COVID-free country with most of the people fully vaccinated against the highly transmissible coronavirus.

“Wala pa tayo dyan sa (we have not yet hit) herd immunity.COVID is here and it can afflict everybody. No one is still safe. We have to avoid, wear a mask and listen to what government says,” Duterte said, as he urged those unvaccinated people to avail of the Covid-19 shots.

Apart from the massive vaccination drive, he emphasized the significant contribution of the public minimum health standards to the decline of the country’s COVID-19 cases.

“Science has proven time in again and it shows in our fight against COVID na talagang napigilan yung surge and hindi nating gustong bumalik iyan kaya nakikiusap tayo na (that it really halted the surge and we don’t want the spike to happen again, that’s why we are appealing that) the only way to fight COVID really is still the fundamental: you wash your hands, wear your mask, avoid crowds if you can,” Duterte said.

He urged the residents of various areas—that are still lagging in their vaccination drive—to avail of the free jabs.

“I am pleading to you, on behalf of the government na mahinto na sana itong COVID na ito (hopefully this COVID will end) and the only way to do it, is most or not, all Filipinos are vaccinated,” he said.

The latest data from the National Task Force against COVID-19 showed that 61,058,862 adult Filipinos are now fully vaccinated, including those who received the single-dose Janssen and Sputnik Light jabs.PNA