Iloilo City is eyeing a deal with London-based Oxford-AstraZeneca for its COVID-19 vaccine as the city government aims to vaccinate the entire population and provide relief to residents affected by the pandemic.
Mayor Jerry Treñas in a statement on Monday announced that he has already called for a special session of the City Council to discuss the agreement with the city government together with the national government and the pharmaceutical company.
“I called for a special session of the City Council to authorize me to sign the tripartite agreement between and among the national government through Sec. Carlito Galvez, the pharmaceutical company, and the city government. While we do not yet know when the vaccines will be made available to us, we want to start the year positively,” he said.
On Tuesday, a special session was conducted by the Sangguniang Panlungsod for the ratification and confirmation of the tripartite agreement.
According to City Councilor Julie Grace “Love-Love” Baronda, Iloilo City is among the first cities to have access to the much-anticipated vaccine.
“We are one of the few cities who would be having access to the purchase of the vaccine through the multi-partite agreement between the local government units (LGUs), national government and the pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca,” she said in her official Facebook account.
Baronda said the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council also held a meeting for the reprogramming of the city’s budget to prioritize the purchase of the vaccine. The mayor has earlier announced that city is preparing PHP200-million worth of budget for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccine as it targets 100% inoculation of the city’s over 500,000 population.
“Together with the national government, through the vaccine czar, the Iloilo City Government with the Iloilo City Council will look for ways and means to provide vaccines 100% for all the city residents for free. We will follow the priorities given by the national government for the vaccination of the population,” he previously said.
As of January 4, 2021, reports indicated that only Iloilo City has available vaccine funds in the entire Visayas. Other LGUs that allocated funds for the purchase of vaccine are Makati City (PHP1-billion); Quezon City (PHP1-billion); Puerto Princesa, Palawan (PHP500-million); Pasig City (PHP300-million); Manila (PHP250-million); Parañaque City (PHP250-million); Mandaluyong City (PHP200-million); Zamboanga City (PHP200-million); Cainta, Rizal (PHP150-million); Valenzuela (PHP150-million); Caloocan City (PHP125-million): Marikina City (PHP82.7-million): San Juan (PHP50-million); and Navotas City (PHP20-million).
Meanwhile, a news report published by BBC revealed that the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine showed 62% effectiveness.
Trials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine also showed that when people were given half doses then a full dose, effectiveness hit 90%.
According to researchers in the Lancet journal, the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is said to be “safe and effective” protection against the dreaded Covid-19 virus.
The paper which was assessed by independent scientists are full of results from advanced trials of over 20,000 people showing that the vaccine can reduce the spread of COVID-19, as well as protect against illness and death. (ERS)
