The provincial government is preparing cold storage facilities for the COVID-19 vaccines that are expected to arrive in Negros Occidental by the second quarter or early third quarter of this year, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said today, January 21.
“We are buying additional equipment that can store vaccines up to negative 70 degrees,” Lacson said.
The storage facilities will be placed in vaccination centers to be set up in strategic areas in the province, he said.
The Negros Occidental provincial government has signed an advance purchase agreement for 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines for 50,000 people. The priority of the provincial government will be COVID-19 frontliners, he said
Secretary Carlito Galvez has assured that the national government will also provide free COVID-19 vaccines to 70 percent of the country’s population, and some town and city mayors in Negros Occidental are also planning to buy additional vaccines for their constituents.
Lacson said they are waiting for the third phase Novavax clinical trial results before placing an order for them.
Frontliners will be trained on how to handle and administer the vaccines, he added.*