Iloilo City to buy 600,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses

Iloilo City will acquire at least 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca, allocating PHP200 million for the purchase.

While initially stated that all city residents would be vaccinated for free, Mayor Jerry Treñas clarified that the purchased vaccines would only be sufficient for 300,000 people.

This is because each person requires two doses for the vaccine to be effective, according to WHO recommendations.

The city government aims to vaccinate at least 60 percent of its population, which is over 470,000 residents.

The Iloilo provincial government also signed a multilateral agreement for the advance purchase of 271,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, intended for distribution among the 42 towns and component city of Passi.

These agreements were formalized through a multilateral agreement signed by Mayor Treñas and Governor Arthur Defensor Jr., with acknowledgment from AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals (Phil) Inc., National Task Force chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., and Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.