Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso said he is optimistic that the vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) will arrive "sooner than expected."
Domagoso also affirmed that the capital city is ready for the arrival of the vaccines.
"I am optimistic that it will arrive soon, and we are ready. Not to raise hope for the people of Manila but I am optimistic that it will arrive soon, sooner than expected," he told reporters on Monday.
The Manila city government entered a tripartite agreement with British-Swedish biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the National Task Force Against COVID-19 for the advanced purchase of 800,000 vaccines.
This is seen to benefit around 400,000 people. Frontline health workers, senior citizens and members of other vulnerable sectors, uniformed personnel, public school teachers, and church workers are among the city government's priority list for the vaccine.
Next to be inoculated are those who pre-registered at the manilacovid19vaccine.com. As of Monday, over 80,000 people have reserved their slots at the website.
The Manila mayor said they are nearly done in constructing the city's COVID-19 Vaccine Storage Facility at the 7th floor of Sta. Ana Hospital.
It is equipped with several refrigeration units that can store different brands of COVID-19 vaccines.
These include five Haier HYC-390 refrigeration units which can store vaccine doses from AstraZeneca and Sinovac, four other biomedical freezers which can store Janssen and Moderna vaccine vials, and three -86 degrees celsius ULT Freezers from Haier which can store Pfizer vaccines.
The city government also acquired 50 transport coolers that will be used to deliver the vaccines.
Vaccination simulation activities are also being conducted in the city to identify possible problems that they may arise during the actual vaccination drive. At least 18 vaccination sites in the city have also been identified.