Manila mayor hopeful AstraZeneca vaccines will arrive in June

FILE PHOTO: Vials of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is seen in the fridge of a doctor’s office in Gouzeaucourt as part of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination campaign in France, February 24, 2021. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso is hoping that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines procured by local government units (LGUs) scheduled for delivery in September will arrive in the country three months earlier, in June.

“To be factual, based on the contract signed by mayors, ito ‘yung AstraZeneca na kailangan dumating ng September at posibleng dumating ng June. ‘Yan ‘yung timeline. We are hoping that June na meron nang dumating na bakunang inorder ng mga local government para maideploy kaagad namin,” he said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel on Wednesday.

(AstraZeneca vaccines that should arrive by September may possibly arrive earlier in June. That is the timeline. We are hoping that in June the vaccines that the LGUs have ordered will already arrive so that we can immediately roll it out.)

“Basta kami naka-mindset kami September supposed to be ang contract ng lahat ng Metro Manila mayors and other mayors in the country, about a few hundred mayors in the country. We are expecting that the national government did their part na dumating ang bakuna sa buwan na ito at Abril para mai-rollout naman ‘yung kanilang nabili para sa general public,” he added.

(Our mindset is that the contract indicated that the vaccines should arrive in September. That is the contract signed by Metro Manila mayors and other mayors in the country, about a few hundreds of them. We are expecting that the national government did their part so that the vaccines they ordered will arrive this month and April so we can rollout the vaccines to the general public.)

Moreno, however, did not cite his basis why he thought the Europe-made vaccines may arrive earlier than scheduled.

In January, the Manila City government announced it had closed a deal for the acquisition of 800,000 COVID-19 vaccines under a tripartite agreement with the national government and AstraZeneca.

While waiting for the said vaccines, the city has already started rolling out the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines provided by the national government for healthcare frontliners.

Meanwhile, Moreno also lamented the alleged hoarding of vaccines by other developed countries.

He said these countries are buying the products more than what they currently need.

“Yung Western world… masyado nilang hinohoard. Sila, bumibili ng more than what they need now,” he said.

(The Western world… hoards the vaccines. They buy more than what they need now.)

“Hindi pwedeng maikala, na ‘yung malalaking bansa at mga bansa kung saan napoproduce ‘yung mga bakuna ay siyang bumibili ng sobra-sobra sa pangangailangan nila sa ngayon for 2021, and they are now preparing for 2022,” he added.

(We cannot deny that developed countries and the countries that produce the vaccines buy vaccines that are more than what they need for 2021, and they are now preparing for 2022.)