The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has asked the public to check updates on coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from national health authorities and other "reliable sources" after finding “inaccuracies” in a Forbes’ article claiming that a vaccine-resistant variant of COVID-19 was identified in the Philippines.
DOST Undersecretary for Research and Development Rowena Cristina Guevara said there is no available data backing up the Forbes’ claim that the P.3 variant, which was first detected in the Philippines, is resistant to vaccine.
"Although there are three mutations found in the P.3 variant (E484K, N501Y, and P681H) that are previously associated with known SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) variants of concern (VOCs), further studies are needed to determine and provide proof on the collective effects of the three mutations found in P.3 in terms of transmissibility, pathogenicity and immunogenicity, as reported by the Philippine Genome Center (PGC),” Guevara told the Manila Bulletin in a Viber message.
"As further studies are still needed, and although the presence of these three mutations suggest that an increased transmissibility is possible, it is inaccurate to assume right away that the new P.3 variant is “vaccine-resistant”. There is no proof yet, based on available data, that P.3 is more infectious or is linked to increased pathogenicity or “immune escape”,” she stressed.
Guevara, who heads the Task Group on Vaccine Evaluation and Selection (TG-VES), encouraged "the public to check updates on COVID-19 from national health authorities and reliable sources of health and health research-related information."
After reading the Forbes’ article written by William A. Haseltine, the DOST official said she and the researchers at the University of the Philippines-PGC "would like to make corrections and clarifications at some of the inaccuracies in that Forbes article as they themselves detected the samples which led to the designation of the new lineage P.3 from samples collected in Central Visayas on January 30 to Feb 2, 2021.”
She recalled that on March 10, 2021, the 33 variants submitted on March 3 by our government’s national genomic biosurveillance effort through the UP Philippine Genome Center was finally designated as a new lineage called P.3 by Pangolin (Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak Lineages).
She said P.3 variant nomenclature stemmed from the initial 33 submissions by the Philippines and one submission from Germany and that samples from the Philippines came from Central Visayas and were collected in late January up to Feb. 2, 2021.
"P.3 is not yet considered by the Department of Health as a variant of concern (VOC), as current available data are insufficient to conclude whether the variant will have significant public health implications. Public Health England has classified it as a VUI – Variant Under Investigation,” Guevara said.
She noted that to date, there are 98 local isolates classified under the P.3 lineage.
Guevara expressed the support of the DOST-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) to PGC’s recommendation to strengthen measures to prevent the spread of P.3 variant to other regions in the Philippines and to other countries.
"So far, four, two, and one each P.3 virus sequences have been submitted by the UK, Australia, Germany and Japan, respectively, in the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) database which has now more than 700,000 SARS-CoV-2 submitted sequences.”
In a virtual forum on Monday, March 22, Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire reiterated that the P.3 variant is still not identified as a variant of concern when asked if the P.3 variant is resistant to vaccine.