by Ruel B. Francisco January 30, 2021 Trece Martires City, CAVITE - In anticipation of the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines (COVAX), several loc...
January 30, 2021
Trece Martires City, CAVITE - In anticipation of the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines (COVAX), several local government units (LGUs) in the province have already allocated portions of their funds in preparation of their vaccination plans.
The City Government of Bacoor was the first to declare that they have allotted P50M to P100M for purchasing vaccines from the World Health Organization's COVAX facility to inoculate 70% of its total population, prioritizing the city's frontliners including healthcare workers and uniformed personnel.
Noveleta, the smallest town in the province headed by Mayor Dino Reyes-Chua has already allocated P10-M - P5M from the Annual Investment Program and P5M from the Disaster Preparation Fund- in order to vaccinate 50,000 residents of the municipality.
Similarly, Cavite City has allotted P50M as the LGU anticipates for the early purchase of COVAX to keep its constituents safe, while the Municipality of Tanza declared an allocation of P20M for the same purpose.
Early this week, Imus City Mayor Emmanuel L. Maliksi announced on his ELM FB Live episode that they have allocated a budget close to P100M for the procurement of the COVAX developed by British-Swedish drug manufacturer, AstraZeneca.
On the other hand, General Trias Mayor Antonio Ferrer would want to wait for an amount of COVAX the national and provincial governments will provide to their city.
"We are still waiting on the national government and the provincial government to confirm how many COVAX they can provide for each locality, especially here in GenTri, before we can take action," Ferrer said in an interview.
Nonetheless, the local chief executive assured that they are capable of procuring COVAX for their constituents as it is easy to request a supplemental budget if the need arises.
"General Trias has enough funds and savings and we have no debts, we can afford to procure COVAX if needed for the safety of my constituents," Ferrer said.
Pursuant to the directive of the national government, most LGUs in the province will purchase their COVID-19 vaccines under a tripartite agreement, favoring doses developed by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals because of its affordability. (Ruel Francisco with reports from Dennis Abrina; respective LGU FB pages)
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