Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson confirmed today, January 6, that he is signing a multilateral agreement Friday, January 8, for the advance purchase of COVID-19 vaccines for Negros Occidental.
The agreement he is signing with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals Philippines Inc., the national government and the Department of Health is for the purchase of 100,000 doses of its AZD1222 vaccines for 50,000 persons, Lacson said.
Each dose will cost P275, he said, for a total of P27.5 million.
The priority recipients of the vaccines will be the COVID-19 frontliners in Negros Occidental, he said.
Lacson, however, does not know yet when the vaccines will arrive.
The Bacolod City Sangguniang Panlungsod in a special session today, January 6, also granted Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia authority to sign a multilateral agreement with AstraZeneca for the advance purchase of its vaccines through the National Task Force Against COVID-19 and the DOH, Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said.
The SP also authorized the mayor to sign a confidentiality agreement between AstraZeneca and Bacolod City, he said.
Leonardia thanked the SP for swiftly granting him authority to sign such agreements for the eventual availment of the vaccines.
He, however, said he does not know yet when such agreements will be signed as details will have to be threshed out.
He said they will get the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) secretariat to finalize the signing of the agreements with AstraZeneca.
“We are already willing and able to do that,” he said.
Leonardia, national LCP president, said the league composed of 146 cities will hold a general assembly on January 12 with vaccine czar, Secretary Carlito Galvez, on the availment of the vaccines.
LCP has open communication lines with different vaccine companies, he said.
To combat the current COVID-19 pandemic AstraZeneca UK partnered with Oxford University to rapidly clinically evaluate and scale up global manufacturing of the vaccine.
Several firms in the country have also signed up for the advance purchase of the AstraZeneca vaccines.*