The FDA was looking into inoculation of Cabinet members and soldiers using unregistered COVID-19 vaccines.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was currently investigating the vaccination of several military and Cabinet members with unregistered COVID-19 vaccines, according to FDA Director-General Eric Domingo.
Domingo said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB that the regulatory enforcement unit had yet to submit a report but pointed out they’re looking into more details about the COVID-19 vaccination.
According to Domingo, they would also ask the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and the Philippine Army for information on the personnel who received the unregistered COVID-19 vaccine.
When asked about Cabinet members who allegedly received the COVID-19 vaccine as claimed by Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, Domingo said that he wasn’t privy about it.
Domingo also said that Health Secretary Francisco Duque III also didn’t know who among the Cabinet officials had received the COVID-19 vaccine and that he wasn’t one of them.
READ ALSO | Año: COVID-19 Vaccines Administered To PSG Members Were Probably Donated
It was last Saturday when President Rodrigo Duterte said that several military personnel had already received a COVID-19 vaccine from Sinopharm, which had no approval from the FDA yet.
Domingo also said that Sinopharm had yet to contact the FDA regarding the possible application, adding that the FDA would try to communicate with the Chinese manufacturer through the Chinese Embassy.
In addition, Domingo said that he found it shocking that an unregulated COVID-19 vaccine had been reportedly used on Cabinet members and military personnel.
“Ito naman po ay ginagawa kasi natin to assure ‘yung safety and quality po ng bakuna na gagamitin o ng gamot. Kaya nga po nakakagulat naman na may nangyaring ganoon na hindi man lang natin po nalaman sana man lang nasigurado po natin na na-handle properly and that it goes through a proper mean,” Domingo said.
READ ALSO | Año: Cabinet Official Already Vaccinated With COVID-19 Vaccine
Moreover, Domingo said that the process of acquiring the vaccine could have been made legal only if the vaccine manufacturer applied for a “compassionate special permit” which was issued to medicines for emergency and research purposes.
The “compassionate special permit” was also given to potential COVID-19 medicine Remdesivir for a clinical trial in the Philippines.
Philippine laws prohibited the manufacturing, exportation, importation, distribution, sale, and non-consumer use of unregistered products, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Violating manufacturers, importers, and distributors would be fined from PHP 500,000 to PHP 5 million.
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