Do you have a preferred brand of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines? If your answer is yes, the Task Group  on Vaccine Evaluation and Selection (TG-VES) has a message for you: Don’t look at the brand, vaccines are all the same, but the most “tried and tested” technology comes from China. 

Department of Science and Technology Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara, who chairs the task group, explained that currently, there are four vaccine platforms.

“Sasabihin nila, “Gusto ko galing US (United States), yung Pfizer and Moderna mRNA yun. Ayaw ko ng Chinese kasi China vax saka Sinopharm galing China. Ayoko galing sa Russia." Wag na tayong magsabi na gusto ko 'yung galing sa ganitong bansa kasi pare-pareho lang naman yan. Lahat sila may safety and efficacy at pumasa sa FDA ng Philippines (They are saying, I prefer those from US, the Pfizer and Moderna, they use mRNA. I don’t like the Chinese brand because it’s China vax and Sinopharm, it’s from China. I don’t like either that comes from Russia.. Let us not say, I’d like this that comes from certain country because they are all the same. They do have safety and efficacy and they passed the FDA in the Philippines.), ” she said in an phone interview. 

The DOST official noted that among the vaccine platforms, the inactivated virus is the “world standard.”

“Ginagamit natin ‘yan, lahat ng bakuna halos ganyan, at saan galing ang bakuna na ganyan among the COVID-19 vaccine, 'yung sa China,  yung inactivated virus. As far as the tried and tested technology, 'yung sa China ang tried and tested (We are using that, almost all of the vaccines are like that and where does that vaccine come from, among the COVID-19 vaccine, that from China, the inactivated virus.  As far as the tried and tested technology, it's China that it is tried and tested),”  she said. 

Guevara said Russia is using the same technology platform as that of United Kingdom’s AstraZeneca, 

“So kung tinatanggap mo ang AstraZeneca, dapat tanggapin mo rin ang Russia dahil pareho lang sila ng platform (So if you are accepting AstraZeneca, you should also accept the Russian vaccine  because they are using the same platform),” she said. 

The DOST official said the Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines. “Those were the newest platforms which have not been tried on humans. Wala pa tayong human vaccines na gumagamit ng mRNA (We do not have yet human vaccines that are using mRNA.), but the Pfizer and Moderna they did their clinical trials and they did their research,” she pointed.

She said before the pre-COVID days, the people are not particularly conscious of the brand of the vaccines, and the vaccines come from different countries. 

"Sana huwag natin tingnan kung ano ang brand kasi pagnagpabakuna ka naman ng chicken pox, hindi mo naman alam kung saan galling.Wala naman tayong tinitingnan na brands (Let us not look at the brand because when you have yourself vaccinated against chicken pox, you don’t know where it comes from. We don’t prefer any brands),” Guevara said. 

“Talaga lang magaling mag-market itong mga kaibigan natin from the West kaya akala ng mga tao, it is the best. Hindi pa tapos ang clinical trials kaya 'yung sinasabi nila na efficacy, interim study results pa lang ‘yan, hindi pa tapos (It is just that our friends from the West knows how to market, making the people believe, it is the best. The clinical trials have yet to be concluded, what they are saying efficacy is still under interim study results, it is not yet completed),” she explained.