Zambo’s poor, elderly among Covid vaccine priorities

WITH AN initial funding of P200 million for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines, the local government said it will prioritize healthcare workers, essential and other frontline service providers, and vulnerable populations such as the elderly and poor.

Mayor Beng Climaco has signed a $2 million (or roughly P100 million) deal with British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for the purchase of some 410,000 doses of Covid vaccines. 

She said the vaccines are good for some 205,000 residents, but there is at least P100 million more for the acquisition of additional vaccines from other pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson. 

Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have also their own Covid vaccines and so are Russia with its Sputnik and China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm. 

Climaco, head of the local task force on Covid-19, signed the agreement with AstraZeneca based on the approved authorization of the City Council. The local government’s vaccination program will cover 694,696 residents or 70% of the projected 2021 population of 992,423 inhabitants. 

The initial P200 million for the purchase of the vaccines are included in the P4.38-billion 2021 Executive Budget of the local government, according to Climaco, who is also a member of the Committee on Vaccine Availment of the League of Cities of the Philippines.

She said the local government has been closely coordinating with the national government and the Department of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases, including vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, for the purchase of the Covid-19 vaccines.

City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Amor Miravite said the vaccines will be available by the 3^rd quarter of this year, adding, the local government is now working on plans for the mass inoculation following the guidelines from the Department of Health (DOH). 

“Tene kita guidelines from the DOH, el deaton maga priority groups, con quien kita una man vaccinate and ta mira kita el strategy deaton de que manera hace,” she said, adding, that the local government is targeting at least 70% of the populations in order to reach herd immunity. 

Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection from infectious disease that occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population has become immune to an infection, whether through vaccination or previous infections, thereby reducing the likelihood of infection for individuals who lack immunity. 

“Ta habla gane for Covid, at least 70% del population should be protected to have herd immunity para puede man protect con aquellos maga vulnerable populations deaton. Si tene kita budget and available deaton supplies for the vaccine, actually puede kita man vaccinate more than 70%. Pero ta habla gane kita, at least 70% to be protected for us to have herd immunity,” Miravite explained. (Jasmine Mohammadsali, Zamboanga Post)

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