Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson signed a P30-million contract to purchase COVID-19 vaccines with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals on Saturday, Jan. 9.
Lacson said that medical frontliners will be given priority for the vaccination.
“If it goes well, we will ask for another batch. Probably we can include the needs of the private sector,” he added.
The governor said that he will encourage local government units in Negros Occidental to also allocate a budget for vaccines procurement to cover their respective constituents.
The City of Himamaylan was the first LGU in the province to heed the call for cities to earmark a budget for COVID-19 vaccines by allocating P1 million for it, Vice Mayor Justin Dominic Gatuslao said.
Moreover, Lacson said he is hoping that the national government will provide free vaccines for all Filipinos. “We have yet to determine if the province has still a budget for vaccines intended for senior citizens and indigents in Negros Occidental,” he added.
As of Jan. 7, Lacson reported that COVID-19 active cases in the province further went down to 93, which he attributed to the moratorium on the entry of locally-stranded individuals in majority of LGUs, which ended Jan. 5.
He said, however, that Negrenses should not be overconfident by the continued reduction in numbers of active cases, especially after a new COVID-19 variant was discovered.
A Filipina was tested positive of it upon her arrival in Hong Kong from the Philippines.
“We still have to be cautious. For as long as a great majority has not been vaccinated, it is still not safe,” Lacson said. – GB
