Mayor Jerry Treñas said the Iloilo City Government, through its Legal Office, is looking into legal remedies for undelivered AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Of the 600,000 vaccine doses procured from the British-Swede pharmaceutical firm, the city government has so far received some 180,000 doses only.
“We are open to all legal remedies. Ginatun-an na sang aton City Legal Office kon ano ang mga legal remedies available,” the mayor said.
Treñas’ executive assistant, Francis Cruz, noted that the procurement was made through a tripartite agreement and the manufacturer assured the city government that the vaccine will be made available as soon as possible.
Currently, the city has more than enough supply of COVID-19 vaccines, which were provided by the national government and were donated by several countries.
According to Treñas, by the time the procured vaccines arrived, the city’s target eligible population had already been fully vaccinated.
The available vaccines in the city include 58,000 doses of AstraZeneca; 18,000 doses of Sinovac; 113,000 doses of Pfizer; 12,000 doses of Janseen; 5, 420 doses of reformulated Pfizer; and 147,000 doses Moderna.
“Ang sitwasyon ta subong, damu aton bakuna kag may ara pa ta ginapaabot nga mga 400,000 plus doses,” Treñas said.
“Waay kita may ginatago sa aton pumuluyo kay ti wala man kita may gina-obra nga kamala-malahan. Nagbakal man lang kita bakuna kay gusto ta salbaron ang kabuhi sang mga Ilonggo,” Treñas stressed.
The city government purchased the 600,000 vaccine doses using funds from the Special Education Fund (SEF) as authorized by a joint resolution of the Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Department of Finance (DOF).
Treñas said that there are other also other local government units that procured COVID-19 vaccines.
“Ang pagbakal ni sang bakuna, gin-obra ni sang syudad para makasalbar kita sang kabuhi kay at that time ang issue was ‘savings lives’,” said Treñas.IMT
