More than 50,000 Manila residents have registered and reserved their slots for Covid-19 vaccine as of Tuesday.

“I have registered already. Awaiting my slot for vaccination,” Helen Cea Cabrera said in her post on the social media page of the Manila Public Information Office.

Manila residents are thankful and hopeful at the same time that the Covid-19 vaccine would arrive soon.

Manila Mayor Francisco ‘Isko Moreno’ Domagoso, in an interview over ABS-CBN on Monday, said the city government communicated with drug makers Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

Domagoso clarified that Pfizer and AstraZeneca are two of the most trusted pharmaceutical companies now and that he believes that the two firms are transparent.

“They have their EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) from the U.S. and British government. Because of the EO 121, taking the cue from the national government. As of now, the City of Manila wanted to acquire 400,000 doses,” Domagoso said.

Executive Order 121 was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in December granting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to issue EUA for Covid-19 treatment drugs and vaccines that are still under development.

Domagoso said city of Manila has a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

He said the city has allotted some PHP250 million which may still be increased to PHP1 billion if needed.

He added that this is on top of the national government’s efforts for the procurement of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Domagoso said the city government has discussed the vaccination process and approach to be taken.

“We talked to our doctors (on) how are we going to approach this. That’s why we encourage pre-registration. Uunahin ang medical front-liners, then senior citizens. So mayroon kaming 60,000 na available. Kaya we encourage them to register (we will prioritize our medical front-liners, then senior citizens. So we have 60,000 available. That is why we encourage them to register),” he said.

The registration for Covid-19 vaccine is available on the website www.manilacovid19vaccine.com.

There are also important health-related questions that need to be answered to help the Manila Health Department (MHD) understand the individual.

A Filipino based in the U.S. said the process of registering for the vaccine is the same there.

“Ganito din kami sa U.S. pre- registration tapos email ka na lang nila. Liban na lang kung sa hospital ka nag work (We also did the same in the US, pre-registration then they will send you an email. Except for those working in the hospitals),” Lany J. Blanco Rivera said in a post. (PNA)