Manila City Mayor Francisco ‘Isko Moreno’ Domagoso has announced that he has asked the City Council to set aside P200 million in the 2021 budget for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines once they are available and approved for use.
In his weekly Facebook Live program ‘The Capital Report,’ Domagoso said that the Manila City government is already preparing for the “end game” of the COVID-19 crisis as pharmaceutical firms across the world are racing to create a vaccine.
While there is no vaccine that has been approved yet, the Mayor stressed that it is crucial that the local government is prepared to purchase them once a vaccine is approved months from now.
“Ipinagpapauna ko lang ang paghahanda natin sa end game because the only end game to this is the vaccine,” the Mayor said.
“While we are trying to thrive, to suvive, o magpaharimunan tayo ngayon kahit papaano, makapamuhay tayo ng maayos kahit na may COVID-19, tinitingnan na natin yung immediate future,” he said.
Domagoso bared that he has already made contact with different pharmaceutical companies involved in the research to create a vaccine against the deadly virus.
The Mayor also assured that the members of the Manila City Council, led by Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan, are ready to immediately pass an ordinance appropriating the budget needed to purchase COVID-19 vaccines in the future.
“Ako ay nakikipag-ugnayan na sa mga malalaking pharmaceutical company, mga well-known, in fact kilala niyo yung mga kumpanya na iyon. Wala lang ako awtoridad (na maglabas pa ng ibang detalye) sapagkat ako ay nangako na amin pong itatabi ang aming napag-usapan dala ng may mga sensitibo pang bagay,” Domagoso said.
“Pero, ang puno’t dulo ng usapan namin ay gusto kong makita ‘yung timeline, at dahil doon, kapag nakita ko ‘yung trajectory ng timeline, ‘yung earlier at saka ‘yung madedelay, at least malalaman namin ano ang ilalatag nating plano for the remainders of the year with regard to suppressing the numbers, because there will be continuing infection in our community until there is a vaccine,” he added.
While no vaccine has been approved yet, the Manila City government’s COVID-19 mass testing operations will remain aggressive, with the deployment of walk-in testing centers and drive thru testing sites across the nation’s capital.
So far, three walk-in testing centers have been created–one each at Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital and Ospital ng Sampaloc.
Two drive thru testing sites have also been created–one at the Kartilya ng Katipunan and another at the Quirino Grandstand.
All tests provided by these centers are free for both Manila City residents and non-Manila City residents.
