The Antipolo City government has allocated a P300-million budget for the purchase of vaccines to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), as announced by Mayor Andrea Bautista Ynares.
The city government is also planning to vaccinate all its residents on a voluntary basis.
In a post on her Facebook page, Mayor Ynares said the vaccines, which the city government ordered through the National Task Force Against COVID-19 and the Department of Health, will be arriving this year.
Relly Bernardo, information officer of the city government told Manila Bulletin that the roll out for the vaccination program is targeted to happen in the third or fourth quarter this year.
Meanwhile, the city government has also extended help to balikbayans (returning Filipinos from abroad) and the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) by welcoming them in the city's 31 isolation facilities.
To be accommodated for free with food and other hotel and dormitory provisions are returning Filipinos, city residents or not, from countries with travel restrictions because of the new coronavirus variant and required to undergo 14-day mandatory quarantine.
Ynares also said that balikbayans and OFWs who will be tested positive but do not have symptoms or those with mild symptoms can stay in the city’s quarantine facilities until they finish their 14-day quarantine. Others who are waiting for the release of their swab test, especially those that will have to travel to far provinces and still preparing their travel pass and other necessary documents, can also stay at the comfort of the city’s air-conditioned facilities.
Those who would like to avail the offer of the Antipolo City government can contact the Antipolo City Health Office at telephone number 8-697-0362, for the necessary arrangement that can be made. However, the requesting party should also inform the Bureau of Quarantine of his or her intention to be transferred to the Antipolo facility as the agency has jurisdiction over quarantine matters.
As of January 4, there are 845 vacant beds available out of the 996 beds in all the city’s 31 quarantine facilities. Currently, there are 151 city residents staying in different quarantine facilities, including health care workers who have mild symptoms and no symptoms but have tested positive of the virus.