Vaccine panel waiting for Pfizer to seek permission on using COVID-19 jab for teens
MANILA, Philippines — The head of the vaccine experts panel on Wednesday said they are awaiting request from foreign drugmakers to use their developed COVID-19 jab on those belonging to younger age groups.
Regulators in the United States this week cleared Pfizer's vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds there, a significant development for protecting children from the virus.
Over a Laging Handa briefing, Dr. Nina Gloriani said Pfizer would only need to have its emergency use approval in the country amended for this.
"We actually look forward to that because this will address vaccination to age groups that other vaccines could not cover at present," she said in Filipino.
The manufacturer secured its EUA from the Food and Drug Administration in January.
An initial 193,050 doses from the COVAX facility also arrived this week, but this jab is only allowed so far for 16 and above.
Gloriani, however, said the first supply of Pfizer is still unlikely to be administered to children. She said the country would still have to follow its priority list for health workers, senior citizens and those with comorbidities.
Apart from the said vaccine, the VEP chief added Moderna and Johnson & Johnson are conducting studies on this too. The former, she said, is holding studies for inoculating children as young as six months to 11-years-old.
"Moderna is coming second to Pfizer and it will soon apply for amendment to their EUA," Gloriani said. "I think they're targeting around September this year."
The FDA has cleared Moderna too for emergency use. Its first doses could arrive in the country by June, according to senior administration officials.
Government had signed a supply deal for 20 million doses, but has yet to finalize the purchase.
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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