Las Piñas City Mayor Imelda Aguilar vows to allocate additional funds for the purchase of additional 300,000 coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines to ensure that all city residents will receive vaccination against the disease.
Aguilar said the city government is planning to acquire additional supply of 300,000 AstraZeneca vaccines from the British drugmaker.
The mayor made the announcement during a zoom meeting held on Wednesday by the metro mayors for “A Dose of Hope ceremonial Signing Wave 2” in acquiring AstraZeneca vaccines.
Based on the Facebook page of Aguilar, the zoom meeting was also joined by National Task Force and Philippine Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez, Presidential Adviser on Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion, and AstraZeneca Philippines Country President Lotis Ramen.
On January 11, the city government signed an agreement with AstraZeneca for the procurement of 300,000 doses of vaccines after allotting a P200-million budget as an augmentation fund to the national government in the procurement of vaccines.
Aguilar reiterates that the AstraZeneca vaccines will be given to the city residents for free.
She said the city government is now in the process of having a meeting with concerned offices and agencies for the additional funds for use in the procurement of vaccines.
“Nakahanda ang ating lokal na pamahalaan na maglabas ng karagdagang pondo sa pagbili ng COVID-19 vaccines kung kinakailangan at tuloy-tuloy ang ating pakikipag-ugnayan sa pharmaceutical company upang sigurhing makakuha tayo ng bakuna sa oras na maaprubahan ito ng Inter-Agency Task Force at ng Food and Drug Administration (The city government is ready to allocate additional funds to buy COVID-19 vaccines and we are continuously coordinating with the pharmaceutical company so that we can immediately acquire the vaccine once it is approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force and the Food and Drug Administration),” Aguilar said.
The mayor is hoping the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines will arrive in the city in July and will immediately start the inoculation of city residents.