PALAYAN CITY, Nueva Ecija – The city government here is eyeing a facility operated by a huge farmers' group in this province for possible storage of the vaccines against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas said on Monday that they have sent AztraZeneca a letter "to reserve for us and we intend to purchase the same amount (PHP50 million) ng vaccine nila (of their vaccine)," she said.
Cuevas said the city government has created a committee that will create rules and regulations on the vaccine roll out, which includes lawyers, physicians, the City Social Welfare and Development Office, and the Katipunan ng mga Magsisibuyas ng Nueva Ecija (Kasamne).
Kasamne, which is based here operates a cold storage for onions.
“Kasi kailangan mong ma-store pa rin yung vaccine pagka–deliver (Because there is a need to store the vaccines upon delivery. Yung pag-transport (The transport), I think it will be delivered directly to the storage. Then, once the vaccine is there, kailangan din namin yung (we also need) on how we would transport said vaccines so sabi ko (so I told) we have to prepare other things like ice box, dry ice," Cuevas said.
She said that National Policy Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. assured that the national government will provide complements such as cotton balls and syringes, among others.
The provincial government is expected to provide vaccines for some 150,000 residents with a total of around 300,000 doses.
Governor Aurelio Umali said plans have yet to be finalized but assured the Novo Ecijanos that the provincial government has already allocated the necessary funds.
In Cabanatuan City, Vice Mayor and Sangguniang Panlungsod Presiding Officer Julius Cesar Vergara said the city government has already signified intention to procure vaccines from AztraZeneca.
"We wrote a letter to LCP (League of Cities of the Philippines) regarding our interest in AztraZeneca and according to national policy, we need to have a DOH-LGU (Department of Health-local government unit) tripartite agreement," Vergara said. (PNA)
