The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has purchased 50,000 doses of vaccines from British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca for its employees' dependents.
Thus, bared MMDA Assistant General Manager for Finance and Administration Romando Artes said in an interview over DZBB radio on Sunday, April 18.
"Yung mga po ng ating mga empleyado, bumili tayo ng 50,000 doses at ang priority na pagbibigyan niyan ay ang mga kapamilya po ng mga empleyado (We bought 50,000 doses of AstraZeneca which will be prioritized for the relatives of employees)," he said.
Asked about how many relatives could be accommodated for inoculation from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) per MMDA employee, Artes said, "Inisiip po natin na plus-two ang gagawin natin (We thinking of giving each employee two additional slots)."
But the MMDA workers themselves should be vaccinated first, he noted.
Artes said in the same interview that 570 agency workers--specifically senior citizens and those with comorbidities-- have already received anti-COVID jabs last week as part of the government’s mass inoculation program. The vaccinations took place at the MMDA grounds in Makati City.
CoronaVac, the vaccine is manufactured by China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd., was the one used on the MMDA workers. Artes said that prioritizing seniors and those with comorbidities was consistent with government rules on vaccination.
He said they have enough vaccines for 5,000 employees.
Artes said the MMDA will be increasing vaccination target this week to 300 a day from just 200 a day last week. The first wave of vaccinations at MMDA took place between April 14 and 16.
"Noong first three days po ang tinarget po natin is 200 . Halos na-achieve naman po natin yun. Dahan-dahan po tayo nag-aangat ng bilang para habang nasasanay po yung ating vaccinators, bumibilis po yung proseso natin (Our target for the first three days was to inoculate 200 a day. He almost achieved it. We are slowly increasing the target so that once our vaccinators get used to it, the process will speed up)," the MMDA official explained.
Eight MMDA people have died from COVID-19, including its former chairman Danilo Lim. There are currently around 100 active COVID cases among its personnel.