Metro Manila LGUs donate 7,500 doses of Sinovac jabs to Batangas

Residents left their homes at Barangay Buso-Buso in Laurel town in Batangas following a forced evacuation on Sunday, July 3, 2021, as Taal Volcano remains on Alert Level 3 following a phreatomagmatic eruption last Thursday. The towns of Agoncillo and Laurel are considered high-risk areas. 📷: NIÑO JESUS ORBETA/PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

MANILA, Philippines — Some Metro Manila cities have donated a total of 7,500 doses of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to Batangas in a bid to protect evacuees affected by the recent activity of the Taal Volcano, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Benhur Abalos Jr. said Monday.

“Ito ay naiturn over na po, kulang-kulang 7,500 [doses],” Abalos said in a televised briefing.

(We have turned over more or less 7,500 doses.)

“Mas kailangan ng mga kapatid natin sa Batangas dahil kung mage-evacuate ka, baka maghalo halo po ang mga tao kaya dapat unahin na mabakunahan sila. Lahat po ito ay Sinovac,” he added.

(Our countrymen in Batangas need these more because if you evacuate, the people might crowd so we should prioritize their vaccination. All of the doses were Sinovac.)

Abalos said the city of Manila donated 2,000 doses, Quezon City donated 1,500 doses while Mandaluyong City, Taguig City, Marikina City and Parañaque City each donated 1,000 doses.

At least 3,000 persons were evacuated from the “high-risk” towns of Agoncillo, Laurel, San Nicolas and Lemery in Batangas after Taal Volcano erupted on July 1, releasing a kilometer-high “phreatomagmatic plume.”

State volcanologists raised Taal’s status to Alert Level 3 which “means that there is magmatic intrusion at the Main Crater that may further drive succeeding eruptions.”

EDV