ILOILO – The provincial government plans to buy 50,000 doses of the vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that President Rodrigo Duterte was inoculated with the other day. This vaccine is produced by China-state owned firm Sinopharm.
However, Sinopharm’s application for emergency use authorization (EUA) is still pending before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to Provincial Administrator Suzette Mamon.
The provincial government will make purchases as soon as the FDA issues the EUA and the vaccine becomes avail in the market, Mamon told Panay News.
A vaccine needs to secure an EUA from the FDA for it to be legally administered in the Philippines.
By far, according to Mamon, healthcare workers, senior citizens and persons with comorbidities were being prioritized using jabs from Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
The provincial government targets to vaccinate the working group (20 to 35 years old) in June or July this year.
Earlier, the provincial government sent a letter of intent to the Russia-based Gamaleya Research Institute for the procurement of 275,000 doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.
However, Gamaleya said, according to Mamon, the procurement must be channeled by interested local government units to the National Task Force (NTF) because the supply delivered to the Philippines was limited – 15,000.
“So we are just waiting the instruction from NTF if we will proceed. Kay ti gamay ang nag-abot nga doses, didto anay nila ginbutang sa Metro Manila. We are waiting for the allocation kon may ara i-allocate sa Western Visayas then we will go through kon pila ang puede nga ma-purchase sang province,” Mamon explained.
Early this year, Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. representing the provincial government signed a tripartite agreement with British pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca and the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19.
The pact greenlighted by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan secured the province 270,000 doses of AZD1222 Vaccine priced at $1,350,000 or roughly P64.9 million.
The initial supply of anti-coronavirus shots will be enough to inoculate more or less 135,000 frontliners as the vaccination requires two doses.
The AstraZeneca vaccines are expected to arrive in the second or third quarter of the year.
Meanwhile, Mamon said they are waiting the advice of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) with regards to the available vaccines in the market.
The province has prepared P300 million for the procurement of vaccines./PN
