The Caloocan City government secured a supply of 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines that would be administered free for its residents.
The good news was announced by Caloocan City Mayor Oscar “Oca” Malapitan on Sunday, adding 300,000 residents would get the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines.
“Tuluy-tuloy ang ating paghahanda para sa pagbili ng bakuna kontra Covid-19. Nakikipag-ugnayan tayo sa mga pharmaceutical company upang matiyak na makakakuha tayo ng bakuna pag ito ay aprubado na ng Inter-Agency Task Force at Food and Drug Administration,” he said in a Facebook post.
(We are continuously preparing to buy vaccines against COVID-19. We are coordinating with pharmaceutical companies to ensure that we will acquire a vaccine when it is approved by the IATF and the FDA.)
Earlier, the mayor said that the Caloocan city government allotted a budget of P125 million to buy AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines for its people.
Malapitan added they would get an additional P1 billion loan to ensure that all Caloocan residents would get free COVID-19 vaccines.
More Metro Manila cities order AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines
The Quezon City government and Valenzuela city government have also secured thousands of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.
On Monday, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto announced they also signed an agreement with AstraZeneca for 400,000 doses of coronavirus vaccines worth P100 million.
Early this month, Ayala Corp. ordered 450,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine worth P120 million, half of which would be donated to the government.
Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corp. chief operating officer said the private sector would assist the government in the vaccines’ procurement and distribution nationwide.
AstraZeneca said earlier its COVID-19 vaccine was 70% effective in crucial trials and could be up to 90% effective.
The drugmaker also said that it would manufacture as many as 200 million doses by the end of 2020. The number was 400 times higher than U.S. competitor Pfizer Inc. AstraZeneca said 700 million doses could be available worldwide by the end of the first quarter of 2021.
“This means we have a vaccine for the world,” said Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford University group that developed the vaccine.
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 comes in two doses, each dose costs $10 or around P500.