Facts don't match on Duterte's new claim that COVID-19 vaccine is 'already here, being sold'
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday stuck to a tune he has repeatedly sung over the course of the coronavirus crisis: pinning his hopes on a possible vaccine and now erroneously claiming that it is already available and being sold.
In his weekly address, the president said the threat of the virus that has gripped the world and the nation hard is now less terrifying as he said China and America now have the vaccines.
"Andito na ang bakuna. It's being sold," Duterte claimed. "'Yung sa iba, I don't know [but] it could be not good to assume that there's a black market for that... China and Pfizer of America, meron na sila so hindi na talaga nakatatakot ang COVID."
(The vaccine is already here and it is being sold. The others, I don't know but it would not be good to assume that there is a black market for that. China and Pfizer of America already have it, so the COVID-19 is actually less scarier.)
The American pharmaceutical company, however, had said that while its vaccine candidate was found 90% effective in the Phase 3 of its clinical trials, it has yet to submit an emergency use authorization to the US Food and Drug Administration.
It has also said that its trials will continue to the final analysis of 164 virus patients for further data collection as well as to "characterize the vaccine candidate's performance against other study endpoints."
Trials for China's Sinovac, meanwhile, was halted in Brazil after regulators in the country cited an "adverse incident" involving a volunteer patient.
The company has applied to hold the same trials here in the Philippines, hurdling the initial stage of the screening by Food and Drug Administration officials.
Duterte in the same address told the public that government will borrow up to $300 million or P14.5 billion for the purchase of the vaccines, vowing to prioritize the most vulnerable to the disease as well as the marginalized.
Agence France-Presse has reported that Sinovac has stood by the safety of its vaccines, but this development, along with that of Pfizer's, only shows that Duterte's claim runs counter with the situation on the ground.
His envoy to Washington, Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez, had said too earlier today that possible vaccines from the US drugmaker could be in the country by early 2021 "at the latest."
Duterte in his previous speeches — even in his State of the Nation Address in July — repeatedly claimed that a vaccine is "just around the corner" as he sought to reassure Filipinos that government is on top of the ongoing health crisis.
The administration, however, has shunned calls for mass testing, with groups taking the petition to compel government before the Supreme Court, only to be struck down by the high tribunal.
In the past months, officials had changed course as well in managing the coronavirus crisis, from telling people to stay indoors to now encouraging more people to come out in a bid to revive the economy.
Government has since increased the capacities of business establishments, public transport, churches and hotels, as well as opening up major tourist destinations.
To date, Philippine coronavirus infections are at the brink of reaching 400,000 as of November 10, many months since the first infection was reported. COVID-19 has taken the lives of 7,661 Filipinos to date, while 361,919 were reported to have since recovered.
The country is 25th in the world in the most number of cases, and it is second in Southeast Asia, next only to Indonesia's more than 440,000.
Pharma giants Sanofi and GSK said on July 29, 2020, that they have agreed to supply Britain with up to 60 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. The agreement covers a vaccine candidate developed by France's Sanofi in partnership with the UK's GSK and is subject to a "final contract."
This thread collects some of the major developments in the search for a vaccine to ease the new coronavirus pandemic. (Main photo by AFP/Joel Saget)
As negotiations towards a new pandemic treaty pick up pace, observers warn of watered-down efforts to ensure equitable access to the medical products needed to battle future Covid-like threats.
Shaken by the pandemic, the World Health Organization's 194 member states are negotiating an international accord aimed at ensuring countries are better equipped to deal with the next catastrophe, or even prevent it altogether.
The process is still in the early stages, with the aim of reaching an agreement by May 2024.
But critics warn that revisions being made to the preliminary negotiating text are weakening the language -- notably in a key area aimed at preventing the rampant inequity seen in access to vaccines and other medical products during the Covid pandemic.
"I think it is a real step backwards," Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Centre at the Geneva Graduate Institute, told AFP. — AFP
Africa's first mRNA vaccine hub is ceremonially launched on Thursday to acclaim from the UN's global health chief, who hailed it as a historic shift to help poor countries gain access to life-saving jabs.
The facility was set up in the South African city of Cape Town in 2021 on the back of the success of revolutionary anti-Covid vaccines introduced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
"This precious project... will bring a paradigm shift in addressing the serious problem we faced, the equity problem, during the pandemic, so (that) it's not repeated again," World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells a media briefing to mark the inauguration. — AFP
China has approved its first locally developed messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine against Covid-19, its manufacturer said Wednesday, months after the relaxation of strict Covid-zero regulations sparked a surge in cases.
The vaccine, developed by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd, has been approved for "emergency use" by Beijing's health regulator, the company said in a statement.
It showed high efficacy in a trial in which it was used as a booster shot for people who have been given other types of vaccines, the company added, without offering further details. — AFP
COVID-19 vaccine maker Novavax raises doubts about its ability to continue its business, announcing plans to cut spending after struggles in rolling out its coronavirus jab.
Shares of Novavax plummeted 25 percent in extended trading, after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed analyst estimates.
While the firm should have enough money to fund operations, the situation is "subject to significant uncertainty," it says in a statement. — AFP
The protection against Covid-19 from being previously infected lasts at least as long as that offered by vaccination, one of the largest studies conducted on the subject says.
Ten months after getting Covid, people still had an 88% lower risk of reinfection, hospitalisation and death, according to the study published in the Lancet journal.
That makes this natural immunity "at least as durable, if not more so" than two doses of Pfizer or Moderna's vaccines, the study says.
The authors nevertheless emphasized that their findings should not discourage vaccination, which remains the safest way to get immunity. — AFP
- Latest
- Trending
