GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The city government assured on Thursday that it is ready to purchase more coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines to augment the mass vaccination.
Mayor Ronnel Rivera said they are waiting for the go-signal from the national government to push through with the purchase of the vaccines through an initial allotment of around PHP125 million.
He said the local government has been regularly coordinating with National Task Force against Covid-19 chief implementer, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., and Department of Health (DOH) officials regarding the matter.
Rivera said the city government has sent letters of intent to purchase vaccines of AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.
“We’re pushing for that as we’ve seen that some countries already opened up their economy as the vaccinations progressed,” he told reporters.
The mayor said the local government remains focused on reaching the population protection level for Covid-19 at a faster rate and even ahead of the other areas.
The City Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Disease is targeting to inoculate over 450,000 individuals or 70 percent of the listed population of around 647,000.
The vaccination of eligible individuals under priority groups A1 (front-line health care workers), A2 (senior citizens), and A3 (persons with comorbidities) are underway in the city’s 26 barangays using vaccines provided by the national government.
As of June 29, the City Health Office (CHO) said a total of 35,813 AstraZeneca and Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccines were administered in the area, with 26,314 for the first dose and 9,499 for the second dose.
Some 9,523 persons under the A1 category, 9,290 under A2, and 7,501 under A3 have received their first dose so far. At least 7,045 individuals under A1 had their second dose or completely vaccinated, 2,242 under A2, and 212 under A3.
CHO said their vaccination teams posted a combined 497 in daily average accomplishment in the last seven days.
Rivera said they are expecting the delivery of more vaccines from the national government, through the DOH, in the coming days to facilitate the expansion of the vaccination coverage.
“Were trying to get our 70 percent population vaccinated as soon as possible as we continue with our direction to lower the infections and move forward to a merrier Christmas this December,” he said.
Source: Philippines News Agency
