Iloilo City signs deal for 600K doses of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine

Iloilo City has secured 600,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Britain's Oxford University in partnership with multinational firm AstraZeneca, Mayor Jerry Treñas said.

In posts on social media on Sunday, Treñas said that he signed a multilateral agreement on behalf of the city for the purchase.

The order will be enough for 300,000 people—as the vaccine is administered in two doses—or 60% of the city's population, he said.

The purchase, Treñas added, "was made possible because of the support from our national government thru Vaccine Czar Secretary Carlito Galvez and [Health Secretary Francisco] Duque."

The cities of Vigan and Caloocan also announced their deals with AstraZeneca for the vaccine on Sunday.

Duque also said that the government has secured 25 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine, while the Serum Institute of India said that Galvez has signed a term sheet for 30 million doses of Novavax's Covovax vaccine.

The Philippines has 487,690 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Sunday, including 9,405 deaths.

However, even though most Filipinos say that they worry about getting the virus—91% and 94% according to surveys by Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia respectively—nearly half or 47% are "not inclined" to get vaccinated, according to the Pulse Asia survey. — BM, GMA News