The DOH will submit an EUA application for Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines.
The Department of Health (DOH) said that it will submit an application for emergency use authorization (EUA) of Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines.
In an online briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that there’s a possibility that the negotiations for Sinopharm will be “government to government”.
“The reason why we are doing this is merong posibilidad na magiging government to government ang transaksyon o negotiations for Sinopharm. This is something that we do so that we can facilitate the process of receiving vaccines but of course everything undergoes the strict regulatory process,” Vergeire said.
Over the weekend, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III ordered the Department of Health to file an EUA application for the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine after it was listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO).
This means that Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine can be included in the WHO-led COVAX Facility. Vergeire also said that this will help speed up local regulators’ review of the said vaccine.
According to Vergeire, they’re currently processing the EUA application and they just needed to get the documents and dossier of Sinopharm.
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Previously, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that three companies expressed an intent to seek an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine but none of them had submitted the required documents so far.
FDA Director-General Eric Domingo also confirmed that the Philippine government, through the Department of Health, can apply for an emergency use authorization.
So far, the Philippines had granted an emergency use authorization to the vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca-Oxford, Sinovac, Gamaleya Institute, Bharat Biotech, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Moderna.
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