Caloocan City inks deal for 600,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses

Caloocan City has entered into an agreement to procure 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Mayor Oscar Malapitan announced that 300,000 residents will benefit from the initial supply.

The city government has earmarked P125 million for vaccine procurement and will borrow an additional P1 billion to ensure free vaccines for all residents.

The AstraZeneca vaccine requires two doses per person and each dose costs approximately P500.

The local government has been coordinating with pharmaceutical companies to secure vaccine doses once approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force and the Food and Drug Administration.

The national government has allocated P73.2 billion for vaccine procurement from various funding sources.

The private sector has also committed to purchasing 6 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses, with half to be donated to the Philippine government.

Additionally, the Philippines has secured a term sheet for 30 million doses of the Covovax vaccine from the Serum Institute of India.