Sinovac preferred to wait for an EUA approval before delivering COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines, according to Malacañang.
Malacañang on Thursday said that Sinovac preferred to wait for an emergency use authorization (EUA) before delivering COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday said during a televised press briefing that the COVID-19 vaccines developed by Chinese vaccine manufacturer Sinovac Biotech would be delivered to the Philippines only after the company secured an EUA approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
According to Roque, Sinovac had decided to wait for the emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before sending the COVID-19 vaccine supplies to the Philippines.
Roque admitted that there might be a delay in the COVID-19 vaccine delivery if the Food and Drug Administration won’t issue the EUA approval for the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine soon.
“Bagamat sinabi ko na parating na rin ang Sinovac, ang Sinovac naman na donated ng China ay nais muna nilang hintayin ang EUA bago nila iparating sa ating bansa ‘yung kanilang donated na Sinovac. So kapag hindi lumabas ang EUA, eh baka may maantala rin ‘yung pagdating ng 600,000 na Sinovac. pero mas mabuti talaga na nandiyan na ang EUA para sigurado na pagdating, gamit kaagad,” Roque said.
Meanwhile, Sinovac had filed an EUA application for its COVID-19 vaccines before the Food and Drug Administration.
However, the Food and Drug Administration reportedly couldn’t yet decide on the application because of incomplete documents.
The Philippine government had previously secured 25 million COVID-19 vaccine doses from Sinovac under a term sheet and the initial supply was expected to arrive in the Philippines this month and the rest would arrive in batches from March until December 2021.
Manila Bulletin also reported that Malacañang earlier announced that around 600,000 Sinovac vaccine doses donated by China were expected to arrive in the Philippines on February 23, 2021.
Roque claimed that the arrival of the said vaccines was already “etched in stone”.
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