Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said Wednesday the public could avail COVID-19 vaccine by the second quarter of 2021.
Guevarra said in a press conference that the Philippines would have access to the COVID-19 vaccine by the fourth quarter of 2020 but only for clinical trials.
“If we’re talking about the availability en masse, we believe this is going to happen in the second quarter of next year,” Guevara said.
“But if we’re talking about the clinical trials, it will start in the fourth quarter of this year,” she added.
According to Dr. Jaime Montoya, executive director of the DOST Philippine Council for Health Research Development, the timeline of the vaccine’s availability would depend on the country that developed the vaccine.
Montoya said the timeline would start after the country of origin approved the vaccine. He said Russia, as an example, is planning to begin its clinical trial to participated by other countries in September.
The clinical trial would take six months to finish, and then the Food and Drugs Administration in Russia will review them for a month, he added.
When the FDA in Russia approved the vaccine, the FDA in other countries would then need to authorize the vaccine.
The FDA Philippines will review the vaccine for a month by the second quarter of 2021. If the results are favorable, the FDA will approve the vaccine.
Montoya said the vaccine would be available for public consumption by the end of the second quarter of 2021.
Also read: P2.5B COVID-19 vaccine funds allocated in proposed 2021 nat’ l budget
According to Philippines’ representative to the World Health Organization’s Solidarity Trials for COVID-19, Dr. Lina Gloriani, the following vaccine developers are on the top of the list being considered to be part of the solidarity trial, which are all currently under Phase 3:
- Oxford-AstraZeneca
- Sinovac
- Sinopharm (two vaccines under development)
- Moderna
- Pfizer
“Meron pang iba pero nasa Phase 2 pa lang sila. But I think eventually, they will move to Phase 3. So, hindi natin alam sino doon yung isasali sa WHO Solidarity Trial,” Gloriani said.
“Right now, ‘yun po ang nakakausap natin,” she added.
As of August 18, the Philippines logged a total of 169,213 COVID-19 cases, of which 53,665 are active cases. The number of recoveries is 112,861, and fatalities are 2,687.