Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella. CDN Digital Photo | Morexette Marie Erram
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella has ordered the formation of a committee to study the vaccination plan and how to efficiently achieve the desired herd immunity against the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In a phone interview with CDN Digital, Labella said that the committee will be composed of Doctor Jeffrey Ybonez, the City Health Officer; Doctor Bryan Lim; other health and epidemiology experts. They will be also be joined by City Administrator Floro Casas Jr.
“I am creating a committee to undertake the vaccination program. They will plan how the vaccination will be implemented,” said the mayor.
Labella said this in preparation for the procurement of the vaccines awaiting the approval of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the preferred Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
However, Cebu City is already part of the priority areas that would receive the first roll-out of the vaccines procured by the national government.
Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr., the vaccine czar said that Cebu City along with Metro Manila and Davao will be among the first local government units to receive the vaccines.
The vaccination program of the national government, though, will focus on the medical and health workers who are dealing with COVID-19 cases on a daily basis.
Labella said the city’s own procurement is to supplement the allocations from the national government and will focus on other frontlines such as law enforcement, the market sector, the transportation sector, and most importantly, the indigents.
The goal of the committee is to lay out this plan to achieve the desired target of 70 percent of the population inoculated.
They would also recommend which vaccine to procure upon FDA approval. A budget of P400 million is ready to use while an additional P100,000 will follow through a supplemental budget.
The mayor said he will still have the final say on the vaccines because the local government units (LGU) has been given orders to coordinate with the national government when it comes to procuring the vaccines.
“We will see which vaccines we will procure,” said the mayor. /rcg