Baguio City eyes giving COVID vaccines to neighboring towns

Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong on Saturday said their local government will be willing to provide vaccines for its neighboring municipalities that were unable to place orders in biopharmaceutical firms.

"At the same time, meron din kaming order sa Gamaleya para at least meron kaming contingency dahil kailangan din naming tulungan 'yung aming mga kapitbahay na munisipyo dahil hindi sila nakapag-order," Magalong said at a Laging Handa public briefing.

Neighboring municipalities include La Trinidad, Itogon, Tublay and Tuba, all in Benguet province.

Likewise, the local government is negotiating with other companies for COVID-19 vaccines, Magalong said.

"We're going through the process ng negotiation, making sure that our national task force and DOH are fully aware of what we're doing," Magalong added.

After a deal with AstraZeneca, the mayor said they are aiming to vaccinate around 196,000 of Baguio City's 378,000 population.

According to Magalong, 17 years old and below were excluded from the selection, leaving the LGU with 260,000 residents as the target population.

Only 70 percent of the 260,000 individuals is required to attain "herd immunity," which leads to 196,000 figure for the vaccination drive.

"I-times two natin 'yan, more or less around 400,000, around 380,000 doses ang kailangan namin dito sa siyudad ng Baguio," he said. —LBG, GMA News