BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — Governor Carlos Padilla has commissioned medical experts to devise how the province can buy, transport, and store vaccines against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Padilla on Friday (Jan. 8) said purchasing vaccines is Nueva Vizcaya’s priority once local governments are allowed. The Inter-Agency Task Force Against COVID-19 says vaccines must be bought through the national government, or under a tripartite agreement between the local government, the IATF, and the Department of Health.
“We need to know the requirements and the facilities needed [for a vaccine roll-out]so we can study it and come up with proposals for its funding and management,” Padilla said.
Under an initial plan, the province would first inoculate medical and health frontliners as “they are regularly exposed to COVID-19 patients,” he said.
In Quirino province, Governor Dakila Carlo Cua said local governments have a better understanding and inventory of available facilities, financial and manpower resources, and willing private partners in executing a vaccination drive.
“Storage, delivery, and logistics of these vaccines—those are the things for which we could help out,” said Cua, who is president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (Ulap).
In Isabela province, Governor Rodolfo Albano III said they would spend on vaccines for workers in primary health care, maternal and child care, and communal health delivery services.
“If the national government will shoulder vaccines for front-liners like doctors and nurses, the province will spend for other front-liners like teachers,” Albano III added.
“The national government has already allotted a budget for the purchase of the vaccines. We also have ours. Local governments should also have their counterparts so that we can achieve our goal that all Cagayan residents are vaccinated,” said Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba.