China's Sinovac still Philippines' top COVID-19 vaccine pick —Palace

December 11 ------ The COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Chinese firm Sinovac remains the Philippines’ top pick for its immunization program despite bribery claims hounding the Beijing-based firm, Malacañang said Thursday. The Palace expressed confidence in the vaccine review process to be conducted by the Food and Drug Administration, whose chief, Eric Domingo, enjoys the full trust of President Rodrigo Duterte, according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

“Consistent po tayo na papayagan lang nating magamit ang mga bakuna na napatunayan nang ligtas at mabisa laban sa COVID-19,” Roque told reporters. “So pagdating po diyan sa mga allegations on bribery, tingin ko po ay hindi mangyayari iyan sa Pilipinas.” Roque also said the “target remains that Sinovac will be the first that we can use to vaccinate our people and it will be in the first quarter of next year.”

The Philippines eyes to vaccinate around 25 million people in 2021. Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Wednesday said Philippine regulators will validate a report alleging that Sinovac had previously bribed authorities in China to hasten approval for the use of its vaccines. A Washington Post report said Sinovac’s founder and chief executive Yin Weidong, in a 2016 court testimony, admitted to bribing regulatory authorities in China some $83,000 from 2002 to 2011 to fast track the approval of its vaccines.

Sinovac has applied to hold late-stage trials of its vaccine candidate CoronaVac in the Philippines. Its application is still being evaluated by the government. As for budget, Senator Sonny Angara, who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance, earlier in the day said the P72.5 billion funding for COVID-19 vaccines under the proposed P4.5-trillion national budget for 2021 is "solid funding." Angara made this assurance in response to concerns about the fact that only P2.5 billion of the said allocation would be under the regular funds of the Department of Health while the rest are tagged as unprogrammed.

Roque, in the same Palace briefing, said the Congress-approved allocation is enough to inoculate 60 million Filipinos. “Tingin ko po sapat po iyan. Kasi nga doon sa scheme na ipapatupad ng DOF [Department of Finance], hindi pa nga po galing sa national appropriations iyong P72 billion na initially kinakailangan natin para sa 60 million katao na mababakunahan,” he said.

Source: gmanetwork.com