Philippines
National
Business sector remains confident with AstraZeneca, says Presidential Adviser Concepcion
Business sector remains confident with AstraZeneca, says Presidential Adviser Concepcion
By Roy Mabasa
Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion on Sunday said the business sector remains confident with AstraZeneca even as reports show no link between the Oxford University-developed COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) vaccine and the reported cases of thromboembolic events.
Concepcion’s statement jives with the ongoing World Health Organization (WHO) investigation and the earlier position taken by the European Medicines Agency saying there is no indication that the AstraZeneca shot is causing blood clots.
“With Britain's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, they have stated that the reports of blood clots received so far are not greater than the number that would have occurred naturally in the vaccinated population—leading to a consensus that the benefits continue to outweigh the risks, which EMA, the Department of Health, and Philippine Food and Drug Administration shares,” Concepcion noted.
Earlier, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, WHO chief scientist, said the adverse events, which are reported after vaccination, have to be seen in the context of events that occur naturally in the population.
“Just because it's reported following a vaccination doesn't mean that it's because of the vaccination. It could be completely unrelated.”
It was noted that even the DOH and FDA see no reason to stop the rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine while various government agencies are continuously coordinating and monitoring the ongoing process.
Concepcion, who is also the founder of Go Negosyo, added that the WHO’s recommendations after the probe would hopefully shed light on the matter.
The country is expected to continuously receive its remaining doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX facility following the first batch and second batch which was received just a few weeks ago.
The batches from the COVAX facility will also be augmented by the arrival of the donation from the private sector through the ‘A Dose of Hope’ initiative of Concepcion and Go Negosyo—a program that pioneered the tripartite agreement which connected the private sector, the public sector, and vaccine manufacturers.
This initiative is expected to provide the country a total of 17 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Adding to the doses that are coming from the COVAX facility, we are expecting the first batch of doses that we procured through the ‘A Dose of Hope’ around May to June, this would be around 2.6 million doses. For the second batch, the remaining 14.5 million doses, it is expected to arrive in the third quarter. This second batch includes the orders from our 240 donor companies and 39 LGUs. Half of all the doses procured by the private sector will be donated to the government for its frontline workers while the other half is for the private sector’s economic frontliners,” Concepcion stressed.