Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., vaccine czar and chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19, welcomed on Wednesday, June 2, the World Health Organization's (WHO) approval of the CoronaVac vaccine made by Chinese manufacturer Sinovac Biotech for emergency use against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Galvez said the issuance of an emergency use listing (EUL) to Sinovac "is a major boost" to the vaccine program and in the government's efforts to address vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos, particularly senior citizens.

In a separate television interview, Galvez said this could result to an increased vaccine supply in the WHO-led COVAX facility, which has been facing shortage of jabs.

"Maganda po iyon dahil lalaki ang supply ng COVAX (It is good because the supply of COVAX will increase)," Galvez said over ABS-CBN's "Headstart."

Around one-third -- or 2,749,050 doses out of the total 8,329,500 doses -- of the country's vaccine supply came from the COVAX facility.

However,the delivery of the vaccines hit a snag last month when COVAX fell short in its vaccine production. By the end of June, the shortfall of vaccines in the COVAX facility will reach 190 million, said the WHO on May 17.

Meanwhile, Sinovac has been the biggest contributor of vaccines in the country, delivering 5.5 million CoronaVac jabs so far. It represents 66 percent of the total vaccine supply.

According to Galvez, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) will also no longer have to worry about the preference of other countries to Western brands now that Sinovac has already secured an EUL from the WHO.

"We will make some recommendation that all countries should recognize the WHO recognition," Galvez said.

Galvez earlier called on the public to refrain from "discriminating" vaccine brands as Filipinos tend to favor Western brands such as the United States-made Pfizer.

"If the WHO, the highest level of stringent requirement authority, ay nabigyan na ng authority ang (authorized the) Sinovac, dapat ang lahat ng iyon ay matanggap ng ibang mga bansa (it should be accepted by other countries as well)," he added.

The Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine was given an EUL after it was "found to be safe, effective, and quality-assured," WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Tuesday.

The EUL serves as an assurance to countries that the vaccine has met international standards. Aside from Coronavac, other brands given an EUL include Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and Sinopharm.