Caloocan to borrow P1 billion for vaccine procurement

Caloocan City plans to earmark a budget of P125 million to procure coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccines to be distributed to residents of the city.   Caloocan Mayor Oscar “Oca” Malapitan said they will also borrow an additional fund of P1 billion to ensure that each resident of the city receives a free vaccine, according to a report by Manila Bulletin. 

“This is to augment ang bakunang ilalaan sa ating lungsod ng Pamahalaang Nasyunal. Ito ay upang matiyak natin na kung kulangin ang ilalaan ng national government ay may nakahanda tayong pambili, upang matiyak na bawat mamamayan ng Caloocan ay mababakunahan nang sa gayon ay matiyak ang kaligtasan ng lahat (This is to augment the vaccines that will be allocated to our city by the national government. This is to ensure that, should the allocation by the national government not be enough, we have funds to buy additional vaccines so that each resident of Caloocan will be vaccinated to ensure everyone’s safety),” he said in a statement.

“Hindi ako mangingimi na ipambili ng Covid-19 vaccine ang lahat ng pondo ng Caloocan basta maibigay lamang ito ng libre sa ating mga mamamayan (I will not hesitate to use up all of Caloocan’s funds to buy COVID-19 vaccines as long as each resident will receive it for free),” he added. 

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The Caloocan mayor said they have been in talks with multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and AstraZeneca, but they will wait for which vaccine will secure the Food and Drug Administration’s approval.