Amid the reported global scarcity of vaccine supply, an official of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on Tuesday, July 13, said that the supply of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines in the country will not be affected by clinical trials.
DOST Undersecretary Rowena Guevara, during the Laging Handa public briefing, explained that the country has formalized its agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) for the conduct of the Solidarity Vaccine Trial (SVT) in the Philippines.
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/07/13/who-solidarity-trial-in-ph-to-help-find-most-effective-covid-19-vaccines-for-filipinos-dost/
“Iyon pong clinical trials kasi ay mga Phase 2 at saka Phase 3 kagaya po ng sa Solidarity Vaccine Trial natin at privately funded po iyong mga trials na iba (In the clinical trials, Phase 2 and Phase 3 are used such as in the Solidarity Vaccine Trial or other privately funded trials),” Guevara explained.
Given this, Guevara said that the vaccines used in trials are not used in national vaccination programs because these did not pass the “Phase 3” or the “satisfactory” results.
Guevara explained that when a new vaccine has passed the Phase 3 (satisfactory result), then this can be included in the options of countries such as the Philippines in their deployment vaccination programs.
“Pero itong mga nasa clinical trials, hindi po makaka-apekto sa global scarcity ng vaccine supply (But those in clinical trials will not affect the global scarcity of vaccine supply),” Guevara said.