Manila, Makati City, Quezon City and other Metro Manila cities are going to get their COVID-19 vaccine dosages from British-Swedish biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
This is so after their local chief executives disclosed they have already signed contracts with the giant British-Swedish pharmaceutical company.
Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay said it signed a tripartite agreement on Sunday with AstraZeneca and the national government through the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
“We intend to vaccinate all Makatizens, including real property owners, business owners, and non-registered voters who reside in the city,” Binay said in a statement.
The Manila city government said it has also secured an advance purchase of 800,000 COVID-19vaccine doses while Quezon City said it is ready to have its 375,000 residents inoculated.
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said it will be enough to cover at least 400,000 of the city’s target population in its immunization plan. He said the vaccine will arrive in the country “in the coming months.” “Malugod kong ipinapaalam at ibinabahagi sainyo…
Today, I can officially announce, and it’s final, and it’s official, that the city has already acquired vaccines for 400,000 people in the City of Manila,” said Moreno in his speech in the city’s regular flag-raising ceremony.
On its part, the QC government said it will prioritize its 10,000 health workers, 300,000 senior citizens, 20,000 adult persons with disabilities and other members of priority sectors, as recommended by the World Health Organization.
An initial P1 billion has been allocated for the vaccine.
Meanwhile, Valenzuela City said it is also capable of inoculating 70 percent of its total population or 320,000 of its residents.
In Caloocan, 300,000 residents will get the vaccine once its first batch of supply arrives in the country.
Mayor Oca Malapitan said the local government is also ready to loan an additional P1 billion to ensure that each resident will receive the vaccine for free.
For the cities of Malabon and Navotas, their mayors have given assurance that around 140,000 residents will be soon inoculated once the vaccine already arrives in the country.
Malabon Mayor Lenlen Oreta said the city will prioritize 90,000 individuals, particularly those medical frontliners, Malabon residents who are working outside the city and the elderly and students who are deemed vulnerable to COVID-19, while Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco said about 50,000 of his constituents will get the vaccine by June.
San Juan City and Mandaluyong also disclosed that they have signed a deal to secure vaccines from AstraZeneca.
Their executives, however, refused to disclose how many doses they will acquire citing a non-disclosure agreement. (Minka Tiangco, Joseph Pedrajas, Aldrin Casinas)
