Zambo asks for more Covid vaccines, medicines

CHIEF COVID frontliner Mayor Beng Climaco has asked the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (NIATF-MEID) for additional Covid-19 vaccines and critical care supplies, among others as the City Government continues to battle the spread of the deadly respiratory virus in Zamboanga.

Mayor Beng Climaco

The surge in Covid-19 cases has pushed the local healthcare system to the verge of collapse with private and government hospitals overflowing with patients and medical frontliners overworked. The spike in infections also resulted in the shortage of medical oxygen and antibiotic medicines. 

Climaco, who was among local chief executives invited to the virtual meeting organized by the NIATF-MEID and the National Vaccination Operations Center, aired her concerns, especially in the supply of Covid-19 vaccines. She said the continuous and steady supply of vaccines will enable not only the city, but other parts of the Zamboanga Peninsula region to accelerate vaccination rollout and ensure added protection for the people against the disease. 

“I have so much faith in our vaccination teams and they can accomplish and administer 5,000 to 7,000 doses daily,” she said, but there is not enough supply to sustain the mass vaccination program. 

Equality 

Carlito Galvez, who is in-charge of the government’s vaccine procurement program, has previously said that there are enough supply of the medicines, but Zamboanga City only gets little compared to Davao City, Davao region and even Cebu and the National Capital Region which incidentally are all vote-rich areas. 

Many local government executives are also complaining about the unequal distribution of Covid-19 vaccines and private companies and corporations, including business groups and chambers of commerce have long wanted to purchase their own vaccines directly from the manufacturers, but the government has rejected this. 

Climaco also said that there is a dire need for the DOH and the Department of Interior and Local Government to hire and deploy more contact tracers and medical frontliners such as additional doctors and nurses to Zamboanga City and to extend their contracts longer. 

Covid is here to stay 

The mayor said Covid-19 may never go away after citing a report by World Health Organization (WHO) emergencies director Dr. Mike Ryan who warned against trying to predict when the virus would disappear. She also quoted Ryan as saying that “even if a vaccine is found, controlling the virus will require a massive effort.” 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also said that a vaccine will be a vital tool in the global fight against Covid-19, but it won’t end the pandemic on its own and there is no guarantee scientists will find one. He said world leaders and the public must learn to manage the virus and make permanent adjustments to their daily lives to bring the virus down to low levels and “at the same time, we will not, we cannot go back to the way things were.” 

Just last month, over 45,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine from the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca were delivered to Zamboanga City and officials said some 36,42o additional doses are also expected to arrive soon. 

The delivery of the vaccine was part of a $2 million (or roughly P100 million) deal 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.

 Zamboanga is one of the first cities that entered into a multilateral agreement for the purchase of vaccines through the League of Cities. The 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 latest delivery of 4,580 vials or 45,800 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines will benefit local residents. 

Climaco said the local government’s vaccination program targets to cover almost 700,000 residents or 70% of the projected 2021 population of 992,423 inhabitants. She said more than 412,000 doses of vaccines have been administered in Zamboanga with or about 25% of the targeted population now fully vaccinated. (Zamboanga Post)