ANGELES CITY – With frontline medical workers and those belonging to marginalized sectors as priority, Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr. has allotted P25 million for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.
This, even as he requested the Department of Healthfor a counterpart fund of P50 million to enable the city government to extend the provision of Covid-19 vaccines to the entire city population.
“We want to exhaust all the means to ensure that all residents of Angeles City especially those members of vulnerable sector will receive free vaccine against the virus,” Lazatin said in his letter to Health Secretary Francisco Duque.
The mayor noted that the city’s Executive Budget 2021 has been limited to only P2 billion due to the economic consequences of the pandemic, hence the need for the DOH assistance.
If Lazatin’s request of counterpart fund from the DOH will be approved, the vaccine procurement of the city government would bring the total budget to P75 million.
“We would also like to request the DOH for assistance in the procurement of vaccines and in its distribution to the community,” he added.
According to the chief executive, this move, as part of the city’s Covid-19 prevention efforts, is a priority to safeguard Angeleños from the virus.
“If the assistance will be approved, it would be instrumental in ensuring that more members in the community will receive protection from Covid-19,” he stressed, thanking the DOH, as well as the NationalInter-Agency Task Force “for always extending a helping hand to assist the city government in its battle against Covid-19.”
