March 29, 2024

Baguio City is anticipating a surplus in vaccines as its dashboard shows a high vaccination rate, yet a lot of the AstraZeneca doses it procured have yet to be delivered.
The city government signed in January 2021 a deal with British pharmaceutical AstraZeneca for 380,000 vaccine doses, enough to vaccinate Baguio’s eligible population of 190,000.
Since the start of the vaccination in March last year, 97,000 doses of the city government-procured AstraZeneca have so far been delivered, according to City Health Services Officer Rowena Galpo.
During the council session last week, City Budget Officer Leticia Clemente reported the city government has paid P24,379,943.75 for the doses that were delivered.
The city has allocated P85M for the purchase of 380,000 doses of AstraZeneca.
Baguio is one of the local government units that procured AstraZeneca doses for their eligible population before vaccination was rolled out in the country in March last year.
At the time, supply was limited and donations through the World Health Organization’s Covax facility came in trickles, but deliveries improved not long after.
As of December last year, more than 200 million doses of vaccines of different brands have so far been donated to the Philippines.
Even with the increased number of eligible population to be vaccinated, the city is anticipating a surplus in vaccine doses.
Asked by Councilor Michael Lawana how the city-procured AstraZeneca doses that are yet to be delivered will be dispensed, Galpo said the DOH assured it will help the city government allocate the supply to other areas.
She added the other doses will also be used as booster shots.
Galpo said Baguio is one of the 25 LGUs in the country having concerns on how to dispense the AstraZeneca doses they procured.
“In our meeting with Sec. Carlito Galvez and DOH Usec. Myrna Cabotaje, it was mentioned that any excess will be reallocated to the DOH and other LGUs that are still in need of vaccines,” Galpo said, adding Mayor Benjamin Magalong already wrote the DOH to determine which LGUs are still in need of vaccines.
As of Jan. 27, the number of fully vaccinated individuals in Baguio reached 270,809, which is 96.37 percent of the adjusted 281,000 eligible population.
Those who received at least one dose reached 290,310 or 103.31 percent of the eligible population.
There are 73,783 individuals who received their booster shots while 30,923 minors, or those aged 12 to 17 years old, completed their Covid-19 shots. – Jane B. Cadalig