COVID-19 vaccine should be 60% to 70% effective at minimum, according to FDA
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that a COVID-19 vaccine should be 60% to 70% effective at minimum in order to be able to secure an approval in the Philippines.
FDA Director General Eric Domingo said in an ANC interview that the COVID-19 vaccine should be 60% to 70% effective, which was the FDA’s “minimum requirement.
“Most vaccines pass [FDA regulation] if they have 60% to 70% efficacy rate. But of course, the higher [percentage of efficacy rate], the better,” Domingo said.
President Rodrigo Duterte had already issued an executive order allowing the Food and Drug Administration to issue an emergency use authorization (EUA) for COVID-19 vaccines which it would find effective and safe.
READ ALSO: President Duterte Allows FDA to Grant Emergency Use of COVID-19 Vaccines
GMA News Online reported that only COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and Moderna had been proven at least 80% effective after human clinical trials.
However, only the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech had secured an emergency use authorization from regulatory bodies of the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
With emergency use authorization issuance of reputable regulatory bodies limited to Pfizer, Domingo mentioned that it’s understandable that the supply was insufficient.
“It takes some time kasi wala pa ring EUA ang iba, so the production is not yet enough to be able to supply it here immediately,” Domingo said.
Moreover, Domingo assured the public that no COVID-19 vaccine would be administered in the Philippines unless it passed FDA scrutiny which include an evaluation of results on human clinical trials.
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