DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara Duterte revealed that the city government has procured 30,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from the British firm AstraZeneca that will arrive in the city in tranches starting third quarter of this year.

The city chief executive announced this as the country has yet to start its own COVID-19 vaccination program.

She said the local government opted to secure its own supply of COVID-19 vaccines in case the national government fails to deliver on its commitment to make the vaccines available for all.

 She said the initial doses of AZD1222, the vaccine jointly developed by the British firm with Oxford University, can can benefit 15,000 individuals.

 Duterte added that they will procure additional vaccines developed by US-based Novavax Inc. and Serum Institute of India after receiving information that the local government units in the country can now place orders with the vaccine manufacturer.

“We are starting our documentation right now to buy a certain number of doses of Novavax. We’re buying these vaccines just in case the national government will not fulfill its commitment that there will be vaccines for all because there’s nothing on paper yet with regard to the number of doses that they can give to the LGUs,” she said.

 Duterte added that the city has been allocated an initial supply of 15,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines that the national government will receive through the COVAX Facility, benefiting 7,500 individuals.

 She said the local government is also asking private hospitals that serve as COVID-19 referral facilities in the city to submit names of their health care workers, who are willing to receive the vaccines, as the initial supply will be more than enough to cover all workers of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), which has around 5,000 employees.

 Duterte said the city’s public and private hospitals catering to COVID-19 patients have around 12,000 to 13,000 frontline healthcare workers, excluding those employed in standalone laboratories and allied medical services, who need to get vaccinated.

 The health care workers are at top of the government priority list for COVID-19 vaccination program, she said.