Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro said on Monday the national government, through National Task Force Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., has committed to providing the city with Covid-19 vaccines that can be used to inoculate 70 percent of the city’s population.

Teodoro said Secretary Galvez was receptive to his request to allocate vaccines for about 70 percent of the city’s population.

“The secretary candidly replied that the national government, as for the commitment of the President, can supply the requirement for the 70 percent of the target population for Marikina,” Teodoro said.

He said the request to the national government was made on the basis of the city’s epidemiological condition and other factors such as budget limit.

“I requested na kung pwede makapag-allocate sa (to allocate) Marikina for the 70 percent of the population, on the basis na ang epidemiological condition namin sa Marikina, we are (a) small city, limited budget, unlike the other cities na mas malaki ang budget nila kasi kailangan namin mag-prioritize hindi lang naman vaccine ang kailangan budget-an (We are a small city with a limited budget, unlike other cities which have a bigger budget. We have to prioritize which ones should be allocated a budget, not just the vaccines),” he said.

He added that a portion of the city’s budget was allocated for other logistical requirements for vaccination such as vaccination hubs, equipment, and personnel among others.

“More importantly nga ‘yung other logistical requirement ng vaccination, ‘yung mga doctors, nurses, ‘yung mga gamit pangsaksak, ‘yung mga logistical requirements sa mga vaccination centers, ‘yung mga equipment sa care monitoring, ‘yung support drugs na kailangan baka sakaling magkaroon ng adverse reaction, bumili na kami nun (More importantly [the budget has been allocated] for other logistical requirements of vaccination such as doctors, nurses, syringes and other equipment for care monitoring, support drugs in case there’s adverse reaction to the vaccine, we’ve bought those),” he said.

The vaccines that the city would purchase would be used to augment those coming from the national government.

Earlier, Teodoro said the city now has the cold chain capability to store 250,000 vials of vaccines and ready to implement the Covid-19 vaccination program.

Some nine fixed-point vaccination areas have also been identified, with the Marikina Sports Complex serving as the main hub. (PNA)