Over 332,000 vaccinated in Zambo

ZAMBOANGA CITY has vaccinated over 332,000 residents as the local government continues its mass vaccination program in an effort to reach herd immunity against the deadly Covid-19 respiratory disease.

Mayor Beng Climaco said they are targeting to vaccinate at least 70% of the local population to protect residents from Covid-19 and return to normalcy. 

Zamboanga has nearly one million residents. 

Climaco vowed to aggressively vaccinate more people, especially now that Zamboanga has recorded a surge in active Covid-19 cases due to the Delta variant that is now the dominant variant of the new coronavirus.

Just last month, the local government received over 45,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine from the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The delivery of the vaccine was part of a $2 million (or roughly P100 million) deal that Climaco signed with AstraZeneca early this year. 

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. 

Some 36,42o additional doses are also expected to arrive soon.

The latest shipment was the second since July this year after AstraZeneca delivered some 11,800 doses of Covid-19 vaccines purchased by the Climaco administration.

The mayor said the local government’s vaccination program will cover almost 700,000 residents or 70% of the projected 2021 population of 992,423 inhabitants.

Zamboanga is one of the first cities that entered into a multilateral agreement for the purchase of vaccines through the League of Cities. (Zamboanga Post)