The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday, March 6, announced that the Health Technology Assessment Council (HTAC) has given clearance to the government for the acquisition of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines of Chinese firm, Sinovac Biotech.
"The HTAC deems the use of CoronaVac (Sinovac) as beneficial and likewise poses no objections to its procurement by the DOH," DOH said in an advisory.
It added that the HTAC forwarded the results of their assessment encompassing health, economics, ethical and equity considerations on March 3, 2021.
Under Republic Act No. 11223 or the Universal Health Care Law, the DOH and PhilHealth may only procure or invest in health technologies that have been positively recommended by the independent HTAC.
The Philippine government in received the first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines to the country from Sinovac Biotech Ltd. A total of 600,000 doses of the CoronaVac vaccines donated by China arrived in the country on Feb. 28, 2021.
Last January, the Philippine government also announced that it has secured 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines of Sinovac.