ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA – Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio announced Monday they have finalized their vaccine procurement deal with AstraZeneca, with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant promising to deliver supply "by third quarter this year."
"Commitment ng AstraZeneca na maibigay ang mga COVID vaccines sa third quarter ngayong taon," Duterte-Carpio said.
The mayor said the contract with AstraZeneca had already been signed, following negotiations the began last October.
"Pirmado na lahat ng kontrata na hinihingi ng AstraZeneca... Wala tayong na-encounter na problema sa kanila kasi October pa lang, nagsulat na tayo sa kanila na interesado tayong bumili sa kanila," said Duterte-Carpio, adding the pharmaceutical company will be the one to make public the details of the agreement.
Inoculation of Davao City residents will be "voluntary," she said.
Earlier, the local government said it aims to immunize 1.2 million residents in Davao, which is 70 percent of the city's population, to achieve herd immunity.
Aside from Davao City, several local governments also announced their procurement agreement with the same pharmaceutical firm.
Britain was the first country to approve the vaccine for emergency use.
The vaccine, also developed by Oxford University, is a "viral vector vaccine," where a specially engineered virus that normally causes chimpanzees to get the common cold delivers genetic instructions to human cells to make the spike protein jutting out from the new coronavirus's surface.
The AstraZeneca shot doesn't require deep freezing at minus 70 degrees like the mRNA vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech.
It can be kept in a standard refrigerator for 6 months and also cheaper to make.
$1 = P48.0530
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- With reports from Hernel Tocmo and Reuters
Sara Duterte, Davao City, AstraZeneca, vaccine, COVID-19, RNG, regional news, region, Sara Duterte Carpio