ILOILO CITY – Business groups here are seeking additional coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines as the number of infections continues to rise both in the city and province of Iloilo.
Lawyer Jobert Peñaflorida, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Iloilo chapter, said on Tuesday that across the world, the recovery is realized when people are vaccinated.
He said they recognized the effort of the local government to procure vaccines as the PCCI also purchased a certain quantity for its members and employees.
“Unfortunately, all these initiatives are yet to arrive beginning on the third quarter (of 2021). The urgency especially with the case of Iloilo shows all the more how important vaccine is,” he said in a phone interview.
He added that the request for an additional vaccine is a collective effort but each business group has come up with a letter-request addressed to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez, Jr.
Also appealing for more allocations are the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Iloilo, Inc., Iloilo Economic Development Foundation (ILED), Inc, and the Iloilo Business Club (IBC).
ILED, in a letter signed by its chairman Engr. Terence Uygongco and president Angel De Leon said the surge in cases would mean “greater economic fallout, more school closures, more healthcare disruptions and threatening the futures of families everywhere”.
“While we have started our vaccination activities, there is an urgent need to prioritize more deliveries of vaccines for the city and province given the recent surge of positive cases. Right now, our vaccines are not enough where it needs to be, leaving our vulnerable population dangerously unprotected,” they said.
Peñaflorida said they only requested additional vaccines but the inoculation follows the order of priority of the Department of Health, which now covers economic front-liners.
He added that it is important that economic front-liners get vaccinated because they are those who come home to their houses and mingle with the vulnerable members of their families.
With PCCI, he said that they will be procuring 8,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, part of which will be allotted for the use of the local government.
Mayor Jerry P. Treñas, in his advisory posted at the Iloilo City Government FB page on Tuesday, said the target is to inoculate 70 percent of the city’s 500,000 population and an additional 100,000 from other LGUs but working in the metropolis.
“We have so far vaccinated 40,000 more or less and 8,000 of these have been given second doses. We need more vaccines because we are facing an infectious and virulent second surge right now,” Treñas said.
On Tuesday, additional 13 boxes of an undetermined number of doses of the Sinovac vaccines arrived at Iloilo Airport.
The DOH is yet to provide the local government units which will receive the new arrivals
Source: Philippines News Agency
