The skepticism among Filipinos may be alleviated if the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines in the country are given full authorization, a health expert said on Monday, Feb. 21.
Health reform advocate and former National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 medical adviser Dr. Anthony “Tony” Leachon said that it is now the time to give “full authorization” to the COVID-19 vaccines being used in the country’s inoculation drives.
“Tinatawagan natin ng pansin ang Department of Health (DOH) at Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Pag ginawa ang ay matatanggal ang vaccine hesitancy at ang mga agam-agam ng mga tao na hindi na ‘yan experimental vaccine kung hindi ay may full approval na (We call the attention of DOH and FDA. Giving full authorization to the vaccines will remove the vaccine hesitancy and it will assure the people that it is no longer an experimental jab because of its full approval),” said Leachon in an interview over DZRH on Monday, Feb. 21.
Leachon added that the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) status of COVID-19 vaccines is one of the reasons why vaccine hesitancy persists.
“Kaya nagkakaroon ng vaccine hesitancy ay dahil naka EUA pa rin tayo. Sa America, yung Pfizer at Moderna ay full product certificate na po na dapat po ay ginagawa din natin dito (Vaccine hesitancy persists because we are still in the EUA. In America, Pfizer and Moderna were already given full product certificates. We should do that in the Philippines as well),” he added.
Once the full authorization was granted, the vaccines will be commercialized and companies and pharmacies will be able to order their supply. This, according to Leachon, would fast-track the vaccination in the country.
“Kaya mabilis in other countries because they use the pharmacy chains and the medical communities. Kaya hindi natin magawa ‘yan ay dahil naka EUA ang mga bakuna (The vaccination is fast in other countries because they use the pharmacy chains and the medical communities. We cannot do that here because the vaccines are still under EUA),” he explained.
Currently, the country’s FDA has only granted EUA to Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Coronavac, Sputnik V Gam-COVID-Vac/Sputnik Light, Jannsen, Covaxin, Moderna, Sinopharm, and Covovax.
EUA is an authorization issued for “unregistered drugs or vaccines” in a public health emergency.