CAGAYAN de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno said Monday, February 22, that suppliers of the AstraZeneca vaccine have made contact with the City Government.
"Naa nay mga suppliers sa AstraZeneca that have touched base with us and hopefully ang ilang presyo is reasonable," Moreno said.
He said, however, that he has always been of the position that the National Government should set the price for the Covid-19 vaccines to prevent the local government units from competing with each other.
"We may have to talk to Secretary Galvez (vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr.) on that," Moreno said.
The British-Swedish pharmaceutical company has recently secured the emergency use authorization (EUA) from the country's Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Moreno said the city is preparing for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines, adding he will have to wait for the recommendation of the City Health Office on what particular brand of vaccine the city will acquire, whether to purchase from one pharmaceutical brand only or from two or more, as well as the volume of vaccines.
He also clarified that the vaccines purchased by the City Government are just supposed to be an augmentation of what the National Government will provide.
"Kining atong paliton nga vaccines are meant to augment what the National Government will provide. We need to calculate unsa ba ning atong paliton," Moreno said.
Moreno hoped that by the time the Covid-19 vaccines from the National Government arrive, the city will be ready to efficiently implement the vaccination program.