Villar: Las Piñas buying its own vaccines amid concerns national government can’t deliver

from politics.com.ph:

Senator Cynthia Villar on Wednesday said her hometown of Las Piñas City decided to buy Covid-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca and Novovax because the local government did not have confident that the national government would be able to deliver the vaccines for the residents of the city.

“We are afraid that no vaccine will be arriving in Las Piñas,” she said during Senate plenary deliberations on a bill expediting procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.

During the interpellation on Senate Bill 2057 or the Covid-19 Vaccination Program Act, Villar said given the length of time the national government is taking to procure the vaccines, many local government units are doubting the arrival of the vaccines.

“This is not misuse of resources. I told our mayor, ‘even if you do nothing for Las Pinas, but you were able to vaccinate the people, they will be happy,’” she said.

“So we are buying, we are buying for the whole use of Las Pinas except for our entitlement from COVAX which is 20 percent,” Villar said.