A House leader on Saturday pushed for the full reopening of the economy in Metro Manila as the vaccination of the target population inches closer to 100%.
Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero has urged the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to open all businesses in the National Capital Region (NCR) to fully vaccinated individuals now.
“With the NCR hitting over 80% of the target population now fully vaccinated, we need now to open our domestic economy to its full scale,” he suggested.
The 1-Pacman party-list congressman said the IATF may follow the economic reopening model of the United States.
“Back-to-normal life is now possible. This is exactly what the United States is doing, and we should follow suit for our economy to gain traction,” he stressed.
“The vaccination cards will be the passport of fully vaccinated individuals to enter in and out of business establishments. ‘No vaccination card, no entry’ can be implemented similar to the US and other countries around the world,” Romero pointed out.
Also an economist, Romero cited the importance of allowing full reopening of businesses in NCR for the country’s economic recovery from recession caused by the pandemic.
The ranking congressman made the proposal after the vaccination rate in NCR reached 95%.
The IATF announced that as of October 28, a total of 9,374,416 individuals or 95.89% of the target population in NCR have already received first dose of COVID-19 vaccine while 8,498,986 individuals or 86.93% have already been fully vaccinated.
The government has retained the Alert Level 3 in NCR where several businesses are allowed to operate but only on 30- to 50-percent capacity.