The country’s vaccine expert panel (VEP) has made a recommendation on whether or not to use the vaccine developed by Chinese firm Sinovac on senior citizens.
“We in the VEP already made our recommendation. We just finished the recommendation the other day,” Dr. Rontgene Solante, a member of the VEP, said in a virtual press briefing Tuesday, April 6.
“And finoforward na namin sa Department of Health regarding the use of the vaccine sa Sinovac for more than 60 years old and above,” he added.
However, Solante has left it to the discretion of the DOH to disclose their recommendation.
“At this point in time, we need the vaccine for those 60 years old and above. Ang available lang ang Sinovac or ang AstraZeneca. Ang AstraZeneca kaunti (Only Sinovac or AstraZeneca are available. Only few AstraZeneca doses remains),” he said
“Ang tanong ngayon, pwede ba nating baguhin na we can give the vaccine to more than 60 years old and above (The question now is, can we amend that we can give the vaccine to more than 60 years old and above),” he added.
The Health department on Monday, April 5, said the supply of AstraZeneca vaccines in the country is running out, and the government is now looking at the possible use of Sinovac’s vaccine for seniors.
“As of yesterday, nakausap natin FDA, wala pa ring submission ang Sinovac ng additional evidences na kailangan natin (As of yesterday, we spoke to the FDA, Sinovac still has not submitted the additional evidences we need),” DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in press briefing.
“So we are awaiting although we coordinated already because we know kailangan natin dito sa ating country because naubos na ang AstraZeneca doses natin (we have run out of AstraZeneca doses),” she added.
The Philippines has been using AstraZeneca vaccines from the Covax Facility for the inoculation of healthcare workers and senior citizens.
The FDA has not recommended the use of Sinovac vaccines to seniors as there is no enough evidence that the China-made vaccine is safe to be used on the said age group.