The Metro Manila Council (MMC) met on Saturday night to discuss the distribution of China-made Sinovac vaccines expected to arrive today (February 28).
Paranaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez, who also heads the MMC, said Metro mayors met on Saturday night to discuss the distribution of doses of Sinovac vaccines for each local government unit.
Olivarez said the vaccine will be first distributed to hospitals under Level 3, Philippine General Hospitals and the Lung Center, to be followed by hospitals under Level 2, the tertiary hospitals with capacity approved by the Department of Health (DOH).
The Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines will be given to about 3,800 health care workers from public and private institutions in the city, followed by men in uniform, he added.
The mayor said that it was also discussed during the MMC meeting the arrival of more than 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from COVAX facility on Monday (March 1).
Olivarez said the roll out of vaccines will immediately start based on the priority list namely the frontliners, police, and the vulnerable sector.
The MMC, however, did not discuss the opening of cinemas since there are still apprehensions among the Metro Manila mayors.
“We are still under general community quarantine (GCQ), meaning opening of cinemas is still not allowed especially that there are reported spikes of COVID-19 in some areas,” Olivarez said.
Olivarez also noted that the city was included in areas categorized with moderate increase of COVID-19 cases.
The City Health Office recorded a total of 156 active cases, including those with no address and unknown barangays and 37 new cases, as of February 27.