Johnson & Johnson applies for emergency use of single-dose jab in Philippines
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 11:42 a.m.) — Pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson has asked Philippine health regulators to authorize its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, the Food and Drug Administration said Monday.
Johnson & Johnson filed emergency use authorization last March 31, FDA Director General Eric Domingo said.
“[The application is] now under evaluation,” Domingo told Philstar.com in a text message.
Once authorized by the country’s FDA, Johnson & Johnson will be the fifth vaccine maker to get emergency use approval in the Philippines, following Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sinovac and Gamaleya Research Institute.
Last month, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said the country was hoping to finalize the supply agreement to secure vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson.
Global clinical trials of almost 40,000 people showed the one-shot coronavirus vaccine was 85.4% in preventing severe disease but the efficacy fell to 66.1% when including moderate forms of the disease.
The World Health Organization added the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the list of safe and effective emergency tools against COVID-19.
The jab has also received praise for its single dosage and because it does not need to be kept in subarctic temperatures unlike the COVID-19 shots from Pfizer and Moderna, making distribution much simpler.
The vaccine also has a long shelf life of two years. Janssen Pharmaceutica, a division of Johnson & Johnson based in Belgium, is developing the vaccine. — with report from Agence France-Presse
The national government has so far secured two official deals for COVID-19 vaccine supplies in the Philippines, one with Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac and another with the Serum Institute of India.
Watch this space for bite-sized developments on the vaccines in the Philippines. (Main image by Markus Spiske via Unsplash)
Health Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire says the general population may now get their second booster jab.
"We're just waiting for the release of implementing guidelines, then we'll start rolling out our second booster for the general population," she says. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
Amid questions on vaccines being administered, the Department of Health assures the public all doses are safe and effective as the “process of extending shelf life goes through thorough stability studies.”
“The government ensures that every vaccine that is injected with an extended shelf life has gone through studies, and is still safe and effective against COVID-19,” it adds.
Government must increase vaccination capacity across the Philippines in anticipation of a surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant of the corona virus, Sen. Risa Hontiveros says.
She says local government units and the private sector can work together to put up more vaccination centers and deploy more vaccination teams to get more people inoculated against COVID-19.
"The active COVID cases have nearly doubled in three days. The positivity rate is almost four times the ceiling set by the World Health Organization. Huwag na nating hintayin na sobrang lumala pa ang sitwasyon bago tayo gumawa ng paraan para mapabilis ang ating pagbabakuna."
FDA chief Eric Domingo says that its agency has given emergency approval for the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.
The United States immunized around 900,000 children aged five-to-11 against Covid in the first week the Pfizer vaccine was authorized for them, a White House official says Wednesday.
Roughly 700,000 more have made appointments at pharmacies, White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients tells reporters.
"The program is just getting up to full strength," he says, adding most of the shots were given in the last couple of days alone. — AFP
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