Lapu-Lapu mayor eyes P100M for COVID vaccines

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan says he plans to push for a P100 million budget to buy vaccines for COVID-19. | Futch Anthony Inso

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — The Lapu-lapu City government will allocate not less than P100 million in purchasing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine.

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan said this in an interview with CDN Digital on Thursday, January 7, in Lapu-Lapu City.

Chan also said he planned to submit a supplemental budget at the City Council for this purpose.

“Well, we will buy the vaccine. Actually mao nay gitan-aw sa atong kwarta ug pila but naa nata’y gitan-aw nga allocation,” Chan said.

(Well, we will buy the vaccine. Actually, that is what we are looking into  with regards to our money and how much but we are looking into a certain allocation.)

Read: LGUs ordered to work with NTF on COVID-19 vaccination plan

Chan, however, said that as of the moment, the city had not yet made any negotiations with different pharmaceutical companies who were offering the vaccine.

The mayor said that they would wait for the recommendation from the Department of Health (DOH), on what brand of vaccine they should purchase.

Read: ‘Tripartite agreement’ for vaccine deal eyed

Chan added that if the city would already be able to purchase the vaccine, they would give priority to the frontliners, and other vulnerable sectors.

“The frontliners, vendors, and drivers, kanang naa gyud pirmi. Sila’y importante sa tanan aron dili sila makatakod sa atong mga kaigsuonan,” he added.

(The frontliners, vendors and drivers. This people are always out there. They are the most important of all so that they could not infect our fellow brothers.)/dbs