MANILA, Philippines — The country’s Food and Drug Administration has allowed the emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Chinese firm Sinovac for children aged six and above, a health official said Tuesday.
Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje, who chairs the National Vaccination Operations Center, said that Sinovac’s CoronaVac was granted emergency use authorization last March 11.
It is the second vaccine allowed for use for the age group, in addition to the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.
According to Cabotaje, the department and experts are already working on the implementing guidelines.
“Titignan nating mabuti kasi ang nasa EUA ng Sinovac ay for healthy individuals, healthy children so baka hindi kasama ‘yung with comorbidities. ‘Yun ang pinag-uusapan, fina-finalize natin ‘yung guidelines together with our experts,” she said.
(We will study it closely because the EUA for Sinovac indicates it is authorities for use for healthy individuals, healthy children so those with comorbidities may not be included. We’re discussing that. We’re finalizing the guidelines together with our experts.)
The health official added the government will use the existing CoronaVac formulation given to adults.
“We don’t need to buy additional Sinovac [vaccines], we have enough in stock,” Cabotaje said.
CoronaVac is also being used by countries such as China, Hong Kong and Indonesia for their pediatric population.
Over 64.5 million Filipinos have completed vaccination against COVID-19 since March 2021. Meanwhile, 11.1 million people have received boosters.