President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is hoping for a successful resumption of face-to-face or in-person classes later this month, noting that it will boost economic recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In his weekly vlog uploaded Saturday, Marcos enjoined local government units (LGUs) anew to be more aggressive in their Covid-19 vaccination and booster drives to ensure the safety of everyone, especially students, once Academic Year 2022-2023 starts August 22.

Citing government data, he said some 15.9 million Filipinos have received their first Covid-19 booster shots while over 1.2 million have received their second booster doses.

Marcos admitted it is still far from the government’s target of administering at least 23 million Covid-19 booster shots within his first 100 days in office.

“Kaya hindi tayo magsasawang pakiusapan ang ating LGU na maging mas agresibo dito sa kampanyang ito (We will not get tired of asking our LGUs to be more aggressive in this campaign),” he said.

He acknowledged that getting more Filipinos to get their Covid-19 jabs and booster shots is not easy but it is crucial to reopening more sectors.

“Hindi man ito ganung kasimple pero kapag tama ang paghahanda ay siguradong magiging matagumpay ito (It might not be that simple, but if our preparation is done right, I am sure this will be successful),” he added.

According to Marcos, the resumption of in-person classes will revive economic activities in establishments around schools such as school supplies stores, retail industry, and the like and in public transport.

Parents will also have the opportunity to go back to work while their children are in school, which means an increase in workforce.

“Kapag ito ay naging matagumpay, hindi lang ito balik-eskuwela kundi balik-negosyo, balik-hanapbuhay at balik-kaunlaran. Ito ay masasabi ring malaking tulong sa malawakang kilusan natin ng pagbubukas ng ekonomiya (If this becomes successful, it won’t only mean the resumption of classes but also the resumption of business, livelihood, and economic development. This would be a huge help to our efforts to reopen the economy),” he said.

Marcos reminded industries to continue enforcing minimum public health standards to prevent a spike in Covid-19 cases.

“Maraming industriya ang magiging bahagi at makikinabang sa hakbang na ito kung kaya’t dapat nating siguruhin na ang lahat ay handang-handa (A lot of industries will take part and benefit from this step so we need to make sure that everyone is ready),” he added.

Marcos personally visited a vaccination site in Pasig on August 1 to observe and encourage more to receive primary and booster shots.

“Wala naman tayong ibang panlaban dito kung hindi ang vaccine. Huwag na po natin hintayin na dumami pa ang mga kaso at maging mahirap na naman ang ating pagpunta sa trabaho, ang ating paglabas ng bahay (We have no other defense against this other than the vaccine. Let’s not wait for the cases to increase and to become difficult for us to go to work, to leave our homes),” he said in his speech. (PNA)