MANILA, Philippines — No vaccine against the coronavirus disease has been approved yet, the Department of Health stressed Monday after two lawmakers were reported to have already been inoculated against COVID-19.
In a briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reminded the public that there is still no approved COVID-19 vaccine registered with the country’s Food and Drug Administration following reports that Sen. Panfilo Lacson and House of Representatives Majority Leader Martin Romuladez had allegedly received COVID-19 vaccine shots.
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“Wala pang aprubadong bakuna na pwedeng gamitin sa ating bansa para sa COVID-19 kaya pinapaalalahan natin lahat ng ating kababayan na until there is registered vaccine from the FDA, doon tayo magkaroon dapat ng pag-access nito,” Vergeire said.
(There is no approved vaccine yet that can be used against COVID-19 in the Philippines. That’s why we’re reminding everyone that until there is a registered vaccine from the FDA, that’s the only time when we can have access to it.)
“Naiintindihan natin na talagang sabik tayong maka-receive ng vaccine dahil sa takot, dahil gusto nating matapos ang nangyayari sa sitwasyon natin. But this is not the right way to go,” she added.
(We understand that everyone is excited to receive vaccine shots because we are afraid, because we want this situation to end, but this is not the right way to go.)
Encouraging results from vaccine trials of pharmaceutical firms bolstered hopes that the world can return to some form of normalcy. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have already sought emergency use approval from US health after announcing its vaccine was 95% effective.
Moderna, another frontunner, said its vaccine was 94.5% effective. It is expected to apply EUA for its vaccine soon.
The DOH earlier urged the public to temper their vaccine hopes and advised the people to continue observing preventive health measures.
“Let’s be careful. We can only get access to COVID-19 vaccines once they are registered or once vaccine clinical trials start,” Vergeire said.
At least five pharmaceutical companies have expressed interest to conduct clinical trials for their candidate vaccines in the country. China's Sinovac is the closest to hold independent clinical evaluation in the Philippines after its application was endorsed to the FDA.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization-led Solidarity Trial is expected to start in December.
Warning to sellers
The department also issued a warning against companies manufacturing, supplying and distributing unregistered COVID-19 vaccines that they will face sanctions.
“Let us wait for the regulatory procedures to finish before you distribute vaccines because we are now talking about lives of people and public health should be protected,” Vergeire said.
The Philippines has so far recorded 418,818 COVID-19 cases, with 386,486 recoveries and 8,123 deaths. — Gaea Katreena Cabico