This illustrative photograph taken in a studio shows a minature shopping cart with syringee and bottles reading “Covid-19 Vaccine”, in Paris, on January 8, 2021. (Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)
ILIGAN CITY — The provincial government of Lanao del Sur is not settling for less when it comes to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine.
Sheila Devnani Ganda, spokesperson of the provincial interagency task force on Covid-19 said that Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. is eyeing vaccines with a 95-percent efficacy rate.
Ganda said the governor’s directive will serve as parameter in their evaluation for available Covid-19 vaccines in the country.
Currently, local governments and private organizations can only access vaccine supply from pharmaceutical firms through a tripartite deal that with the national government.
Ganda said they will inform Secretary Carlito Galvez, the country’s vaccine czar, of the province’s preferred vaccine efficacy rate.
The Lanao del Sur provincial government has allocated P100 million in its 2021 budget for the acquisition of vaccines, said provincial information officer Jennie Alonto Tamano.
She said this was intended to cover 50 to 70 percent of the province’s over one million residents.
If the resources fall short, Tamano said they expect the support of the national and Bangsamoro governments to fill the gap.
The Bangsamoro government has allocated P500 million in its 2021 budget for Covid-19 vaccines.