Dagupan City secures 40k doses of COVID-19 vaccine
THE Dagupan City government has secured an initial allocation of 40,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca – a British pharmaceutical company, as soon as the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves its use in the country.
The city’s Public Information Office said a tripartite agreement was signed last Friday, January 6, by City Mayor Brian Lim, together with representatives from AstraZeneca, Secretaries Carlito Galvez Jr., and Francisco T. Duque III for the purchase.
Earlier, Lim said the city government has allotted P10 million initially for the vaccines.
Lim has instructed the city health office (CHO) to organize and train vaccination teams that will administer the vaccination in the city.
The medical frontliners and senior citizens in the city will have first priority.
Meanwhile, Dr. Anna de Guzman, provincial health officer, said the provincial government is set to augment funds for the purchase of additional vaccines in case allocation for Pangasinan is limited.
De Guzman said Gov. Amado Espino III is hoping the vaccination campaign will begin during the first quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, San Nicolas Mayor Alicia Primicias-Enriquez also confirmed that the municipal government has also placed an order for purchase of 20,000 doses of AZD1222 vaccines with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Philippines Inc.
Enriquez, a medical doctor, confirmed that the tripartite agreement with the National Task Force Against COVID-19 and the Department of Health was done recently and thanked the national government for including her town as among the priority areas that will receive vaccines.
AZD1222 also known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, is a product of decades of research on adenovirus-based vaccines with reported 70 to 90 percent effectiveness by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca in partnership with the University of Oxford. It has been approved for emergency use by the UK and India.
The health workers, others in in the frontline in the battle against COVID-19, senior citizens, adults with disabilities, will have first priority for inoculation. (Eva Visperas)
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