Mayor Oscar “Oca” Malapitan assured the people of Caloocan they will receive free COVID-19 vaccines this year after the City Government allocated an initial P125 million for the vaccine.
“This is to augment the vaccine to be allocated to our city by the National Government. This is to ensure that if there is a shortage of national government allocation, we have a purchase ready, to ensure that every citizen of Caloocan can be vaccinated so as to ensure safety of all,” Mayor Oca said.
According to Malapitan, although the P125-million fund is ready, the City Government will still allocate P1 billion in additional funds for the vaccine, which will be obtained through a loan.
“We have been in touch for a long time in writing with pharmaceutical companies to make sure we get vaccines like Pfizer and AstraZeneca, but we will still wait for the approved vaccine from the Food and Drug Administration and the national government,” he explained.
Mayor Oca also stressed the Caloocan City Government will not buy vaccines that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is awaiting guidelines from the national government.
As early as October last year, he assured the people of Caloocan that the City Government is preparing to procure the vaccine against COVID-19.
“I will not hesitate to use the entire Caloocan fund for the procurement of FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines to provide it for free for all our citizens,” said Mayor Oca.