Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso thanked the US government on Wednesday, July 21, for donating more than 3 million doses of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine to the country through the COVAX vaccine sharing facility.
The US government donated a total of 3,240,850 doses of the said vaccine worth over P1.38 billion or about $27.5 million which is being deployed to various regions in the country.
"Salamat po sa US government dahil ang Manila po ay nagkamit ng Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Ito ay itinuturok natin sa ating mga senior citizens. Malaking bagay po ito kasi kapag binakuna sa inyo Janssen ito ay isang bakuna lang (I would like to thank the US government because the city of Manila has received the Johnson & Johnson vaccines. We have administered the vaccines to our senior citizens. This has been a big help to the vaccination effort because the Janssen vaccine is only single dose)," Domagoso said in a radio interview.
Domagoso said the city has received a total of 3,760 vials or 18,800 doses of Janssen vaccines on Tuesday from the national government. The vaccines, which the LGU has set aside for senior citizens (A2 priority group), were immediately distributed to the city's vaccination sites after he underscored the importance of protecting the most vulnerable people in the country against the coronavirus.
The mayor assured the city's senior citizens that amid the threat of the COVID-19 Delta variant, the city government is doing its best to protect them.
He said that if there will be excess Janssen vaccines, they will continue to vaccinate senior citizens on Thursday, July 22.
Aside from being a single-dose vaccine, the Janssen vaccines do not require an ultra-cold storage, making it more versatile in terms of storage compared to other vaccines.
READ MORE: https://mb.com.ph/2021/07/21/vaccination-in-manila-continues-despite-heavy-rains-flooding/