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MANILA - Pasig City will be able to roll out "a couple of thousand" COVID-19 vaccines for medical frontliners as early as February, its Mayor Vico Sotto said Wednesday.

Sotto said the city is talking to vaccine manufacturers and coordinating with the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID-19 (IATF) for its sourcing and roll-out of the vaccines.

So far, no vaccine has been authorized for use in the country but inoculations have been done, particularly among members of the Presidential Security Group.

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"For medical frontliners, we can expect it as soon as February. This is for medical frontliners... a couple of thousand...that's what we're working on right now," Sotto told ANC's Market Edge.

"We're ready, we're in talks right now. It's probably premature to mention a particular brand, but we're looking at studies," he added.

After the first rollout for medical frontliners, Sotto said the second vaccine rollout would be for senior citizens and persons with disabilities.

Pasig has allocated a P300-million budget for COVID-19 vaccines for its 755,000 residents, but Sotto said they could "easily realign more funds as we see that there are supplies available."

The mayor said Pasig slightly reduced spending in infrastructure last year to allocate more for emergency response for COVID-19, citing that "more than a quarter" of its 2020 budget went to health.