The country’s vaccine expert panel (VEP) vowed Thursday, April 8, to continue looking into the data from other countries on the use of Sinovac coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine on senior citizens. 

Dr. Nina Gloriani, who leads the panel, maintained that the Sinovac Biotech vaccine or CoronaVac has a “good safety profile”. 

“Patuloy ang aming pagtingin sa mga data, humihingi kami ng bagong data,  kaya lang 'yung dumating from Chile ay Español. Tinitingnan po namin ang efficacy nila sa iba ibang grupo.  (We continue looking into the data, we ask for new data, the latest who received was from Chile and it was in Spanish. We look into the efficacy of the vaccine in different age groups,” she said during the Broadcasters’ Forum on Thursday. 

She noted that the data from Chile includes information on the use of the Sinovac vaccine on people above 70 years old. “These are real life, real world conditions when they look at the efficacy,” she said. 

Gloriani said the Sinovac vaccine can protect senior citizens against severe form of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). 

“Mataas ang protection sa severity against the COVID na severe (There is a high level of protection against the severe form of COVID),” she said. 

Citing data culled from China, she said the antibodies being produced after the vaccination are the same with the age groups —18 to 59 years old and the elderly. 

She laments that the delayed arrival of some vaccines may affect the country’s target of achieving herd immunity by the end of the year. 

The Duterte government aims to vaccinate 70 to 80 million Filipinos by year-end to achieve herd immunity.

“Ang medyo nagiging problema lang po sa ngayon  ay 'yung supply, yung sana nakaschedule na mga dadating ay hindi dumating at dun tayo magkakaproblema sa ngayon especially on the face of surging cases ng COVID at COVID variants (The problem we face right now is the supply, what was scheduled did not arrive, that becomes a problem, especially now on the face of surging cases of COVOD and COVID variants) ,” Gloriani said. 

“From what I see, dapat po ay magawa natin sana yung sinasabing herd immunity by the end of the year kung dadating ang mga bakuna ( we should have the herd immunity by the end of the year if the vaccines will arrive),” she added.

On Wednesday, April 7, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use the COVID-19 vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech on senior citizens after "considering the recommendation of the vaccine experts panel (VEP) and the current situation of high COVID-19 transmission and limited available vaccines.”