President Rodrigo Duterte renewed his call to parents to have their kids vaccinated against coronavirus amid the threat of a more contagious Covid-19 variant.,In his public address Monday night, Duterte warned that coronavirus has been mutating, making it more transmissible and putting more people at risk of catching the disease.,“Get your child vaccinated. I hope there will be no problem with your child. Make sure that he or she will get vaccinated and protected [from the disease],” he said.,“If you would only look at Covid-19 intensely, it had so many mutations,” Duterte added.,The health department recently detected a local case of Covid-19 subvariant Omicron BA.4, which the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control described as a “variant of concern.”,Experts said it may evade immune protection induced by prior infection or vaccination, particularly if this has waned over time.,Officials and scientists from South Africa said the country may be entering the fifth wave of Covid-19 surge in the early days of May earlier than expected because of the high number of cases believed to be driven by BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.,Some 69 million Filipinos or 76.71 percent of the country’s eligible population have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, while 13.8 million have received their booster shots, based on government data.,To inoculate more people, the government has been conducting house-to-house jab drives in 812 municipalities across the country, while special vaccination days will be held in Soccsksargen and Bangsamoro Region in the coming weeks.,Officials are also preparing for the turnover of the government’s Covid-19 vaccination program with the incoming administration, said presidential adviser for Covid-19 response Secretary Vince Dizon.,“We have begun our transition [activities] so we can have an orderly and seamless turnover of the vaccination program,” he said.,“This is needed so we can continue our gains in recent months,” Dizon added.,