Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia was among the invited guests to the January 14 ceremonial signing for the national government to accept donations from the private sector of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines.

The ceremonial signing was part of the second wave of private sector’s efforts to help the national government secure more COVID vaccines for Filipinos.

This private sector drive dubbed as “A Dose of Hope” is spearheaded by Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Jose Ma. “Joey” Concepcion, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez of the National Task Force Against COVID-19, and AstraZeneca Philippines country president Lotis Ramin.

President Rodrigo Duterte, who keynoted the ceremonial signing, said, “To everyone involved in the ‘A Dose of Hope’ project, I congratulate you on this achievement. To all who helped and continue to grow this tripartite partnership, thank you very much! We now have a weapon to defeat this virus – the vaccine. Let us win the war and save lives and livelihood.”

Aside from Leonardia, two other city mayors who were invited to speak on behalf of the cities during the ceremony were Mayor Sara Duterte of Davao City and Mayor Abigail Binay of Makati City. On the other hand, Governor Dakila Carlo Cua of Quirino province, national chairman of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, spoke for the  provinces in the event.

“AstraZeneca has partnered with the University of Oxford in developing a vaccine against COVID-19 to ensure a broad and equitable access at no profit for the duration of the pandemic,” said Ramin.

“Today, we are delighted to conclude 17 million doses which can reach millions of Filipinos through the close collaboration of AstraZeneca, the Philippine government, LGUs, and the private sector donors,” he added.

British Ambassador Daniel Pruce said the British government supported the research conducted by the University of Oxford which led to the development of the vaccine./WDJ