MANILA -- President Rodrigo Roa Duterte urged the public Tuesday to participate in the three-day national mass immunization campaign in connection with the commemoration of the Bonifacio Day late this month.

“We are planning to conduct a three-day national vaccination drive from November 29 to December 1 coinciding with our November 30 commemoration of Bonifacio Day,” President Duterte said during his weekly public address on government interventions to the pandemic.

“With this, we want to convey the message that every Filipino who will get vaccinated… Lahat na pala, ang gustong sabihin dito sa gobyerno na ‘yung lahat nagpabakuna are heroes, lahat kayo hero.”

At the same time, the President said he has instructed the National Task Force Against COVID-19 and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to intensify the government’s inoculation drive and to do everything necessary to reach government targets before the end of the year.

The government aims to completely immunize more than 50 million Filipinos before year-end.

Almost 30 million individuals are now fully vaccinated and more than 35 million have at least one dose, the President reported.

He also expressed elation on the implementation of the vaccination campaign that covers children aged 12 to 17, saying this will not only protect millions of Filipino children but also help convince their parents and grandparents to get COVID-19 shot.

“May I repeat that we cannot lose our focus especially now that cases are down. And this is further reason to speed up vaccination to prevent another surge,” he said.

In terms of competitive vaccination, the positive outcome of countries, the Philippines has improved its standing, climbing to 18 spot to rank 103 out of 121 nations.

“In September, the Philippines ranked last among 121. Ngayon, we are 103rd in nation of 121, which is good enough actually for us lalo na na wala tayong mga bakuna,” he said. (PND)