BACOLOD City – The Emergency Operations Center here proposed constructing a walk-in cold storage facility for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines.
City Administrator Em Ang, coordinator of the city’s COVID-19 Vaccination Council (CoVaC), said the proposed facility will be located at the Annex Building of the Bacolod City Government Center.
To ensure efficacy and prevent wastage, vaccines have to be stored at a facility with the proper temperature. The vaccine from British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca – the shots procured by the city government – can be kept in standard refrigerators at two to eight degrees Celsius.
Earlier, Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the local government aims to ensure availability of cold storage facilities for the vaccines, including mobile cold storage units.
The mayor issued Executive Order No. 83 on Dec. 22, 2020 creating the CoVaC designated to plan, supervise and implement programs and activities related to the city’s vaccination roadmap.
Yesterday, the city government conducted a lecture on COVID-19 vaccines and training on vaccination for the City Health Office doctors and Barangay Health Center focal persons.
On the other hand, Leonardia thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for the “timely issuance” of a memorandum allowing cities make advance payments for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.
“This has a direct impact, especially to cities which earlier signed the multilateral agreement with the Department of Health, National Task Force Against COVID-19 and AstraZeneca. But this will, more importantly, benefit all LGUs similarly situated,” Leonardia said.
The city government of Bacolod is paying in advance the 20 percent of the 650,000 doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca./PN
