On Wednesday, January 13, 2021, Cebu City Mayor Edgar Labella said he wants the residents of Cebu City to choose the brand of coronavirus vaccine they want to be injected with.
A ‘Vaccine Board’ was part of the plan to determine the brands each resident would opt to be injected with; either from China, or brands from the other countries.
“We will give them the opportunity to choose because after all, these are people’s money, taxpayers’ money. That is why I do not agree with those who said we cannot choose,” he said in a press conference.
Labella added; “If there is a way that we can choose where you are comfortable, then so be it. They should be given the chance.”
The City Health Office chief and local epidemiology experts will be included in the board.
Labella also said that the has already raised this matter to Carlito Galvez, vaccine czar, on Tuesday.
₱400 million was allocated by the Cebu City government to procure vaccines for their residents.
Cebu City is looking forward to closing a deal with Pfizer or Moderna, said Labella, for having a 95% and 94.5% efficacy rate, respectively.
25 million doses of China’s Sinovac has already been secured by the national government and an initial of 50,000 doses are expected to be available next month.
Mayord Labella, on the other hand, has said that Cebu City is capable of storing Pfizer and other deep-freeze vaccines because of the Cebu facilities of FE Zuellig – an affiliate of Pfizer. The Zuellig facilities can store the vaccine at -70 degrees Celsius.
