The Department of Health told the public on Wednesday to temper their expectations regarding potential vaccines against coronavirus disease as these are still being developed.
President Duterte said that the respiratory disease is not as frightening because of the encouraging developments in the candidate vaccines of China and the United States.
American drug-maker Pfizer and its partner BionNtech recently announced that the COVID-19 vaccine that they are jointly developing was 90 percent effective in preventing the disease as shown in the early results of the ongoing Phase 3 clinical trials.
“Napaka-encouraging po itong lumabas na artikulo about Pfizer. But of course,we have to temper our expectations. Kailangan grounded pa rin tayo doon sa realidad natin na nandyan pa rin ‘yung virus at kailangan ginagawa pa rin natin yung mga preventive measures (This article about Pfizer is very encouraging. But of course, we have to temper our expectations. We still need to be grounded in the reality that we still have the virus and we still need to take preventive measures),” said Vergeire in an online forum.
“Hindi tayo kailangan matakot, kung ginagawa po natin ang minimum health standards natin at saka sumusunod sa mga health protocols. Lalo na, lumalakas ang loob natin lahat dahil alam natin padating na ang mga bakuna at mukhang maganda ang indikasyon na pinapakita doon sa mga trials na isinasagawa (We don’t need to be afraid if we are following our minimum health standards and health protocols. More so, we are all encouraged because it looks like there are good indications in the vaccine trials that are being conducted),” she added.
It is still too early to conclude if the candidate vaccine of Pfizer and BioNtech is effective against COVID-19, although it is considered as “exciting news,” said Dr. Anna Lisa Ong-Lim, a pediatric infectious specialist and a member of the DoH Technical Advisory group.
“Siguro one thing we have to understand, unang-una ito ay press release galing ng kumpanya. Ang talagang basehan natin para suriin ng maigi ang resulta ng isang trial (First, it is a press release from the company. Our real basis for carefully examining the results of a trial) is usually the scientific journal report,” said Lim.
“’Yung inirelease po ng kumpanya is what they would call their interim data analysis. So parang very early results...para lang tayo mabigyan ng indication kung saan na patungo ‘yung trial reports (What the company had released is what they would call their interim data analysis. So, these are very early results ... just to give us an indication of where the trial reports are going),” she added.
The DoH is also looking at the possibility of securing an exemption in the country’s procurement law in the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines.
Republic Act 9184 or the Procurement Law only allows payments to be made after the items have been delivered to the Philippines.
“We have sought the assistance of the Office of the President para magkaroon ng mas malinaw na direksyon kung puwedeng magkaroon ng special na exemption (if we can have special exemption) from this specific provision of the law that we cannot pay until the orders are here,” said Vergeire.
“As we know, many of the manufacturers, partners, we are negotiating with...they are requiring this advance payment. So pinag-uusapan yan ngayon at ginagawan ng pag-aaral kung maaari magkaroon ng (we are discussing about that now and we are studying if we can have a) special exemption because of this pandemic,” she added.