Governor Art Yap on Friday said he set aside the P100 million supposedly allocated for COVID-19 vaccine procurement and will instead use it to fund other expenses including the establishment of temporary treatment and monitoring facilities as advised by vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr.
“That was his tambag, ang iyang pag giya na e-save na ra nato ang atong P100 million for TTMF facilities, and for capacity building and for vaccination and that is what we did,” Yap said during the Capitol’s weekly press briefing on Friday.
Yap’s statement was issued following Ormoc City’s receipt of COVID-19 vaccines which it procured using its own budget.
According to Yap, Bohol should not be compared with Ormoc City as the province has more people to vaccinate than the independent component city.
“Naghinaot ko na dili ikompara ang Bohol sa Ormoc, ang Bohol 1.4 million ang lumolupyo diri so sa atong P100 million pila ka vaccines lang ang atong mapalit so sakto si [former] general Galvez, unya ang Ormoc gamay lang na dakbayan so dako ang posibilidad na sa ilang gigahin na pondo makompleto nilang ang supplies na kinahanglan para sa city of Ormoc,” said Yap.
As of 2020, the populations of Bohol and Ormoc City were at nearly 1.4 million and 230 million, respectively.
However, Bohol, being a province, has an annual budget of P4.6 billion (including loans) which trumps Ormoc’s P1.6 billion.
Among those procured by Ormoc were doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca. The British-Swede pharmaceutical’s vaccine, which the Department of Health said costs P610 per two doses, is one of the cheapest among the jabs that have been granted emergency use authorization in the country.
According to Yap, the national government has also been providing vaccines to Bohol and has been consistent in its deliveries.
“Sa tinuod ra steady ra man ang pag-abot sa nga supplies gikan sa kaulohan. Of course, we need more apan never naman ta gi atubang sa sitwasyon na zero, na wala tay nadawat na mga bakuna,” he said.
Based on data from the Capitol, Bohol has so far received 391,922 vaccine doses as of September 2.