Mayor Vico on vaccines: 'Light at the end of the tunnel'
After almost a year of battle against the coronavirus, finally, we can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto had this to say as the city, in cooperation with the national government, prepares for the rollout of the vaccines against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“For everything that’s happened, finally, we see the light at the end of the tunnel. At alam natin kung ano ka-importante itong bakuna (And we know how important this vaccine is),” Sotto said.
“The message of the vaccines is not just a message of medicine or healthcare. It’s really a message of hope,” he added.
The mayor said that no one could predict what would happen following the worldwide outbreak of the new coronavirus disease early last year.
“No one was sure what was going to happen,” Sotto said during the visit of the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) Team to Pasig on Tuesday.
“Hindi lang naman dito sa Pilipinas kundi worldwide (Not only here in the Philippines but worldwide). No one really expected these things. But we hoped for the best and planned for the worst. And several months later, almost one year, nandito na po tayo (we are now here),” he added.
In preparation for the inoculation of residents, the Pasig City government has initially allocated P300 million for the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccines once it becomes available.
Early this month, Sotto said the local government entered into a tripartite agreement with pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and the national government for the procurement of 400,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
The local government has also trained vaccinators for the vaccine deployment, facilitation, and inoculation of residents.
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. said the country is expected to receive its first supply of COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX facility—a global initiative that seeks to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines worldwide – on the first quarter of 2021.
“‘Yung Pfizer and AstraZeneca, and most likely Sinovac, ito po ang ma-uuna this coming February. Then it will followed by Moderna, Johnsons & Johnsons and Novavax,” Galvez said.