Dumaguete City to set aside P30 million for COVID-19 vaccine

DUMAGUETE CITY — The Dumaguete City government is setting aside P30 million to procure coronavirus vaccines.

Dumaguete City Mayor Felipe Remollo has instructed the local finance committee to prepare the budget to acquire the vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health (DOH).

“The [Negros Oriental] provincial and national government also plan to provide counterpart funds to augment the planned purchase expected this March 2021,” the city government said in a statement.

Once the vaccines are procured, it will be given for free to local health workers, frontliners, and individuals classified as “high-risk” such as the sickly and the elderly. It will also later be given to residents of Dumaguete City who are willing to have themselves vaccinated against COVID-19.

This announcement came as the city continues to grapple with the continuous rise of COVID-19 cases.

As of Jan. 10, Dumaguete City is the province’s coronavirus epicenter, with 107 active cases.

Dr. Liland Estacion, Negros Oriental provincial Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) ground commander, earlier confirmed the presence of community coronavirus transmission in Dumaguete City, which means that there is an increasing trend of cases whose sources of infection are no longer traceable.

Dumaguete’s neighboring province Siquijor earlier announced that it would also allot an initial amount of P10 million for the procurement of coronavirus vaccines.

Siquijor Rep. Jake Vincent Villa confirmed this through a post on his official Facebook page on Friday.

“We have also written to [vaccine czar] Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. about our intention and willingness to enter into the tripartite negotiation and agreement with the national government and pharmaceutical companies for the vaccine procurement,” Villa said.

Dumaguete City and Siquijor join the list of local government units in the Philippines that have set aside funds to buy COVID-19 vaccines.

JE