The San Juan City government signed a deal on Sunday to secure coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines from drug maker AstraZeneca.
Mayor Francis Zamora said he signed a tripartite agreement with the national government, through the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19, and AstraZeneca to provide the city with COVID-19 vaccines at the earliest possible time.
The British pharmaceutical company has applied for an emergency use authorization for its vaccine before the Food and Drug Administration last January 6.
“This is just the beginning of our efforts to provide a safe vaccine against COVID-19 to our constituents in San Juan City,” Zamora said in a statement Monday.
“AstraZeneca is a trusted institution that partnered with Oxford University in the United Kingdom to come up with an effective vaccine to finally put this pandemic behind us,” he added.
Zamora refused to disclose the number of doses stated in the deal due to the non-disclosure agreement.
According to the mayor, the NTF will release the vaccine to the city through the Department of Health once it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and supplies become available.
The local government has allocated P50 million for the purchase of vaccines which will also be supplemented by the additional supplies from the national government.
Zamora said the amount is enough to provide for all residents willing to be inoculated with the vaccine.
“If the P50 million allocation is not enough, the city government, through our City Council, is ready to add more funds so that all our constituents who wish to get the vaccine may get it from the San Juan City LGU for free,” he said.
San Juan City has already started the registration of residents willing to get the free COVID-19 vaccine. As of January 10, 8,310 people have already signed up.