The Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration or FDA has given the emergency use approval for the Chinese-made vaccine Sinovac.
Sinovac is now the third vaccine brand to receive the EUA from country regulators pending the government’s vaccination rollout.
“After a thorough and rigorous review by our regulatory and medical experts, the FDA issues EUA to Sinovac,” FDA chief Eric Domingo said during the Laging Handa briefing.
Domingo said that Sinovac’s efficacy ranged from 65.3% to 91.2%, but only reached 50.4% among health workers with COVID-19 exposure.
“As such, it is not recommended to use in this group,” Domingo added.
“Natapos na ang huling hadlang para magamit natin ang Sinovac, inaprubahan na po ng FDA ang EUA nito,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press briefing.
Roque said that it will take 3-5 days before China ships the 600,000 doses of its COVID-19 vaccines.
“Asahan po natin na wala nang matagal na delay,” Roque said.
The issuance of EUA for Sinovac comes after the delays in the delivery of the Pfizer vaccines due to negotiations in the indemnity agreement.
Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez has apologized for the delay in the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccines.
