BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The province of Negros Occidental and this city made advance payments for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines their respective local governments ordered from British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said the provincial government initially shelled out P4 million from its P30-million fund allotted for the vaccines.
“We are (now) waiting [for the vaccines to arrive]. AstraZeneca said they will inform us of the delivery schedule,” Lacson said over radio station DYHB RMN-Bacolod.
The provincial government ordered 100,000 doses.
On the other hand, Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the city government made an initial payment of more than P31 million for 650,000 vials of COVID-19 vaccine.
“The initial payment practically consummates our contract for these critical vaccine supplies. We wanted to close the agreement as early as we could, this was why we made the payment ahead of the Feb. 24 deadline,” the mayor added.
Leonardia said the advance payment would ensure the delivery of the vaccines starting the third quarter of the year.
HEALTH WORKERS FIRST
Governor Lacson said the vaccines will be inoculated first on provincial health workers.
The provincial government already started identifying and registering those in the priority list.
Atty. Rayfrando Diaz, provincial administrator, said they have until the end of February to complete the list.
The province is also asking the national government for an additional three million COVID-19 doses to vaccinate at least 1.5 million of the province’s total population.(With a report from PNA/PN)
