(Photo by Ali Vicoy / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
DOST Secretary Fortunato “Boy” T. de la Peña said the Chinese vaccine developer has called off its plan to conduct its Phase 3 clinical trials in the Philippines after its SARS-CoV-2 vaccine Vero Cell Inactivated, or the CoronaVac was granted emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“Yung Sinovac kasi nung naaprubahan ang EUA (emergency use authorization) nila, tinigil nila ang pagpursue ng clinical trials. Although nakikipag-usap pa rin sa possibility [of conducting the trials]…baka hindi na sila tumuloy kung kasama ng WHO (World Health Organization) ang Sinovac sa clinical trials, most likely hindi na sila magcli-clinical trials dito (When Sinovac got EUA for its vaccine, they stopped pursuing clinical trials. Although they were still talking to us about the possibility of conducting the trials…maybe they will not pursue if the WHO will include Sinovac in the clinical trials, most l
(Photo by MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
DOST Secretary Fortunato “Boy” T. de la Peña and Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara, chair of the Task Group on Vaccine Evaluation and Selection (TG-VES), cheered at the announcement of the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that Janssen, which is owned by American multinational company Johnson & Johnson, filed for an EUA on March 31.
“We welcome the news of another COVID-19 vaccine applying for EUA in the Philippines. One good thing is that they did clinical trials in the Philippines the results of which only the vaccine developing company can announce,” he told the Manila Bulletin in a Viber message.
(PIXABAY / MANILA BULLETIN)
Department of Science and Technology Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara, who chairs the task group, made the appeal during the televised “Laging Handa” briefing on Saturday.
“Amin pong ine-encourage ang ating mga kababayan, pag ang barangay nyo po napili sa isang mga site ng mga clinical trial, sana po ay sumali po tayo dito sa ating clinical trials kasi kailangan nating makahanap ng mga bakuna at epektibo, safe at efficacious po (We are encouraging our countrymen, that when your barangay is selected as one of the sites of the clinical trial, we hope you participate in our clinical trials because we need to find effective, safe, and efficacious vaccines),” she said.
A Covid 19 vaccine candidate at the Sinovac Biotech facilities in Beijing (Nicolas Asfouri)
Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said China’s Sinovac and Clover Biopharmaceuticals are finalizing their preparations for their vaccine clinical trials after they were given the green light to conduct such initiative this year.
“‘Yung Sinovac at Clover independent clinical trial, nasa last stage na ng preparation ng kanilang trial sites at malapit na din po magsimula ang dalawang yan (The Sinovac and Clover independent trial, they are on the last stage of preparation of their trial sites and they are about to begin),” she said during the “Laging Handa” briefing on Saturday, Feb. 20.
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara clarified that the location of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVD-19) vaccine trials in the Philippines is “not confined” to the deployment of a particular vaccine brand.
In a statement issued Friday, Feb. 19, Guevara