Metro Manila mayors eye mass vaccination in June

MANILA, Philippines — Mayors of Metro Manila are planning to conduct a mass vaccination for COVID-19 in June, once vaccines arrive in the country, Metro Manila Council chairman and Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez said yesterday.

The mayors “met and in June, when our supplies arrive, this is our target, to have the mass inoculation,” he said in Filipino during a radio interview.

Vaccinations in the country slowed down due to the lack of vaccines. The national government said it expects more vaccines to arrive in the next few months.

Olivarez said most of Metro Manila’s mayors have received their first dose of the COVID vaccine “after the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases advised that we are part of the priority groups.”

The inoculation of health workers resulted in rising confidence in the vaccines, he added.