President Rodrigo Roa Duterte welcomes newly-appointed Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Carlito Galvez Jr., as a new member of his cabinet prior to the 33rd Cabinet Meeting held at the Malacañan Palace on January 7, 2019. ROLANDO MAILO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. on Wednesday said President Rodrigo Duterte had approved tripartite deals for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines of local government units (LGUs).
The tripartite agreements involve LGUs, vaccine manufacturers and the National Task Force Covid-19 (NTF), which Galvez heads.
“We recommended for the approval of the tripartite agreement and the president approved it immediately at siya po ay natutuwa, nagpapasalamat po [sa mga LGUs],” Galvez said in a Laging Handa briefing.
According to Galvez, multiple LGUs have expressed willingness to “share their resources to the government” to procure Covid-19 vaccines.
“Sinasabi nga po ng mga LGU na they are willing to share their resources to the government because they know na napakahirap po ng burden ng national government,” Galvez said/
“Sabi po ng ating mahal na Presidente, siya po ay natutuwa sa ating mga LGU dahil ang LGU po talaga ang may key role dito sa ating vaccination program, especially on our nationwide grass root vaccination doon po sa mga cities at saka mga municipalities po at mga barangay,” he added.
Several Metro Manila LGUs have announced hundred-million to billion-peso commitments to purchase Covid-19 vaccines, including Quezon City, Makati and Valenzuela. John Ezekiel J. Hirro