The local government of Parañaque was able to secure 200,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be given free for its residents.
Mayor Edwin Olivarez said a total of P250 million was allocated for the city’s vaccination ñprogram. Aside from AstraZeneca, the Parañaque city government also plans to buy more vaccines from other pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Janssen, and Moderna.
“Once these vaccines are delivered, we shall immediately roll out a vaccination program that will cover the most vulnerable population, including our frontline workers and senior citizens,” Olivarez said, adding the vaccines will be free.
“This is a very significant development in our fight against COVID-19. Hopefully, we shall soon see the end of this deadly pandemic and allow our people to go back to our normal lives,” he added.
Olivarez signed the multilateral agreement for the advanced purchase of AZD1222 vaccine in the Philippines, dated January 10. Each dose costs $5 or a total of $1 million.
According to Dr. Olga Virtusio, the city’s health officer, the local government of said the plan is to vaccinate up to 119,200 residents during Phase 1 of the inoculation program.
Frontline workers, uniformed personnel, persons with disabilities, senior citizens and indigents were included in the city’s priority list for its COVID-19 vaccination program.
Parañaque secures 200k doses of AstraZeneca vaccine
Virtusio added the ultimate goal is to reach a 90% vaccination coverage to attain an approximate 70% herd immunity of the critical population in Parañaque.
The cities of Makati, Navotas, Quezon, San Juan, Manila, Caloocan and Valenzuela also secured their respective supplies of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca.
Meanwhile, the national government is expected to conduct its first batch of inoculation the last week of February.
Metro Manila health workers would be the first recipients of the 50,000 COVID-19 vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech, a cabinet official said on Tuesday.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said, “Medical frontliners for NCR (National Capital Region),” would be the first recipients of the China-made COVID-19 vaccines.
Last month, Malacañang said the Philippines’ top choice for a COVID-19 vaccine is still China’s Sinovac despite the firm’s “bribery history.”