Tagbilaran City Mayor Baba Yap is ready to be inoculated first against COVID-19 regardless of which pharmaceutical company delivers its jabs first to the city to allay fears on getting vaccinated.

According to Yap, he would not mind being vaccinated with a jab from whichever drugmaker delivers their supplies first as long as these are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“Bisag unsa ko basta approved, ayaw lang pud ng illegal,” Yap told the Chronicle on Friday.

So far only Pfizer’s vaccine has been approved for emergency use by the FDA.

Meanwhile, British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Chinese vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech have filed their applications for emergency use authorization with the FDA.

China’s Sinopharm is also expected to seek clearance for their vaccine’s use.

Yap urged the public to trust doctors and health experts saying that the FDA’s approval and other countries’ usage of the vaccines should dispel doubts on getting inoculated.

He said that it is possible for the national government to issue a “vaccine passport” to identify those inoculated which may be required for travel and other activities.

“Mo abot ang time nga naay vaccine passport so dili na makasakay og eroplano ug barko, wa ta kahibaw kung mo abot ng panahuna like di ka kasud og mall og di ka bakunahan,” he said.

Yap had earlier announced that the city government was already in talks with AstraZeneca for the pharmaceutical firm to supply at least 24,000 doses to the city.

The vaccines are expected to arrive in the second half of the year.

Meanwhile, City Health Officer Dr. Jeia Pondoc said that they started communicating with the Department of Health regarding vaccine handling and usage.

She said the national government may start to ship out vaccines to the city as early as March.

The local health office however was not informed yet which pharmaceutical firm will be supplying the vaccine doses. (R. Tutas)