P300M FOR VACCINES: ‘We will go for broke for the lives of our people’

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the city government “will go for broke” as it allocated PHP300-million for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

 

“It is our policy, our belief, and our commitment that when the health and lives of our people are at stake, we will go for broke,” Leonardia said

 

Leonardia said the city government is committed to providing its citizens with any duly approved vaccine available in the market. That is why city officials are making all necessary efforts to raise the needed budget.

 

“We are willing to augment, to re-align, and to revert all items in our budget if the need arises. We will be starting with the preparation of PHP300-million for the vaccines. We will make adjustments if necessary,” he said.

 

Leonardia made the announcement during the ceremonial signing of a multilateral agreement with AstraZeneca and national government agencies, and a confidentiality agreement with AstraZeneca.

AstraZeneca is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, England, which has partnered with the University of Oxford in developing a vaccine against COVID-19.

The ceremonial signing led by Leonardia was witnessed by Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, Councilor Renecito Novero, City Administrator Em Ang, City Legal Officer Atty. Joselito Bayatan, OIC-City Health Officer Dr. Edwin Miraflor Jr., and Emergency Operations Center deputies for medical Dr. Chris Sorongon and Dr. Hector Gayares.

The signing came after the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) authorized Leonardia to contract with AstraZeneca to avail of the company’s vaccine in a special session held Wednesday.

Earlier, officials of League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) headed by Leonardia as national president and the LCP Committee on Vaccine Availment, chaired by Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas, met with top officials of AstraZeneca in a virtual dialog.

 

“The SP authority is a major step towards eventually availing of the vaccine for the people of Bacolod,” Leonardia earlier said.

 

Taking this “major step” further, he also wrote the SP also on Thursday [January 7] to give him a continuing authorization to enter into contracts with other pharmaceutical companies legally operating in the Philippines which can provide COVID-19 vaccines duly approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

According to the mayor, he made the letter-request because time is essential in procuring the vaccine.

 

“We have to move fast and act fast,” he stressed, adding that he will not allow the people of Bacolod to be left out when vaccines are already available.

 

Leonardia added: “Let me tell you that we are very serious. Probably in the Philippines – per capita basis – we have the biggest budget for the COVID-19 vaccines; that should prove indisputably our concern for the people. We believe this (vaccine procurement) is the most important of all.”

 

Leonardia said that the City Health Office and the COVID-19 Vaccination (CoVac) Council have started drafting the list of persons who shall be vaccinated first in Bacolod.

The list will be finalized in accordance with the guidelines set by the Department of Health and the National Inter-Agency Task Force Against COVID-19 for identifying the priority sectors in mass vaccination.

 

“The frontliners will be ‘Tier 1’ – or the first priority – then, the vulnerable sectors, senior citizens, and it goes all the way down to the PNP, the teachers, etc.,” Ang said.

 

Leonardia had clarified that LGUs cannot independently procure COVID-19 vaccines without clearance from the national government.

In his letter to the SP, he said: “The availability of the COVID-19 vaccine is limited, and considering the massive nationwide demand for it, we are bound to encounter problems in its timely availment if we do not act now to ensure that we are on the list of LGUs which are ready to avail of any vaccine supply that the national government shall be able to procure under existing policies and procedures, and subject to adjustments that the national government may eventually adopt thereon.” (With a report from PIO)