A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a “Vaccine COVID-19” sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken April 10, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu Provincial government has no intention of purchasing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines at this point.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, in a press conference on Thursday, January 14, said that she planned to spend the province’s budget instead on reviving the economy, among others.
“It’s premature (to buy vaccines). It’s not a race. This is not even a competition plus the vaccines have not arrived in the country yet,” said Garcia in a mix of Cebuano and English.
Local government units (LGUs) around the country, including the province capital Cebu City, has allocated millions from their budget for the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccines.
But for Garcia, she said she was more inclined to buy the highly sought out shots to fill the gap left by the national government’s inoculation program.
“The national government has already appropriated so much and targeted 70 percent of the population. We could step in if the remaining 30 percent still needs to be vaccinated,” she said.
The Capitol has a budget amounting to P15 billion for the year 2021.
According to Garcia, the Capitol would prioritize spending on infrastructure needed to provide accessible and potable water to local government units (LGUs), improve and expand its existing road networks, and give livelihood assistance especially to those adversely affected by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At this point, I’d rather focus our funds on what our people really need right now to help them pick up the pieces of their lives and livelihood, to improve our infrastructure,” she added.
Experts both local and abroad advised government officials to ensure that over 60 percent of their population will be inoculated in order to achieve herd immunity.
Aside from Cebu City, its neighbor Mandaue City also planned to spend around P200 million of its funds for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines./dbs
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