Taguig Mayor Lino Cayetano (File photo)
MANILA – Taguig City Mayor Lino Cayetano on Tuesday said the local government is preparing a comprehensive list of vaccines that will it acquire to complement those coming from the national government to be able to respond to the threat of other coronavirus variants.
Earlier, the local government unit has set aside PHP1 billion for the needed preparation and its own vaccine supply.
Cayetano said having a diverse portfolio of Covid-19 vaccines with different vaccine types from mRNA and DNA vaccines to recombinant protein vaccines and viral vectors creates options that can help counter different Covid-19 variants.
Taguig expects supplies of Covid-19 vaccines from at least three pharmaceutical companies and has made the following agreements:
• Memorandum of understanding with Novavax for Covovax which is a protein-based vaccine that uses recombinant technology;
• Term sheet with IP BioTech for Covaxin which is an inactivated vaccine; and
• Memorandum of agreement with AstraZeneca which is an adenovirus-based viral vector vaccine.
"The availability of these vaccines will further expand the city's supply and capability to combat Covid-19 including its new variants," Cayetano said.
And while Taguig has locked in deals with several companies, it is also currently in talks with different vaccine manufacturers offering different types of vaccines, including Moderna and other possible suppliers of mRNA vaccines.
"While we continue to build our portfolio of vaccines and wait for the supplies to arrive, we believe that the best vaccine to administer to our citizens is the vaccine that is available now," Cayetano said.
As of March 15, Taguig has vaccinated a total of 1,694 of its medical front-liners with the supply from the national government in its ongoing vaccination rollout at the Taguig Vaccination Hub in Lakeshore Megaquarantine Complex located in Barangay Lower Bicutan.
Moreover, Taguig continues to have the lowest number of active cases in the National Capital Region currently at 21 active cases per 100,000 population compared to NCR's average of 86 active cases per 100,000 of its population as of March 15.
The city also has the lowest case fatality rate with 185 or 1.44 percent versus 2.75 percent of NCR. Taguig sees the inoculation of all its citizens with free and effective vaccines as a key component of its #RoadToZero campaign.
The city government assures its citizens that these vaccines can provide protection from Covid-19 including its new variants.
"Nevertheless, following the minimum health and safety protocols issued by the national and local government such as wearing face masks and face shields, maintaining physical distancing, and frequent washing of hands and sanitation using alcohol are still effective in controlling the spread of the virus including the new variants that were discovered recently," Cayetano said. (PR)
