Dagupan earmarks P10M for COVID-19 vaccine

DAGUPAN CITY—The local government has allotted P10 million for the purchase of the “most efficient vaccine” against the coronavirus that would be given first to front-liners and elderly residents, officials here said on Wednesday.

Mayor Brian Lim said he had informed the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) of their procurement plan, noting that the city preferred the vaccine of the British pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca.

Lim said the city was also considering the vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. since these have higher efficacy and were less expensive than those from China.

It could allot more funds if the initial P10 million would not be enough to cover the vaccines for the target sectors, he said.

Quarantine

In Pampanga province, a 14-day quarantine has been imposed on residents who have returned home since Dec. 28 from any of the 20 countries where the new variant of COVID-19 has been detected.

The “Balik Pampanga” program requires them to complete the quarantine period at the provincial government’s two designated centers in New Clark City, Gov. Dennis Pineda said.

“This step helps us avoid the entry of the new strain of the virus,” he said in an advisory on his social media page.

Balik Pampanga, started in July 2020, has assisted more than 2,000 Kapampangan who have returned from work or vacation overseas. —YOLANDA SOTELO AND TONETTE OREJAS