Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Wednesday Sinovac from China and Sputnik V of Russia would be conducting clinical trials in the Philippines by this month or January next year.
“The Sinovac and also the Gamaleya will undergo clinical trials here this coming either December or the first week of January,” Galvez said at Kapihan sa Manila Bay’s virtual forum.
Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine is 95 percent effective based on its second interim analysis of clinical trial data, its manufacturer announced.
In October, the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) gave Sinovac a go signal to conduct clinical trials in the Philippines.
Galvez added that he was told that it is among the safest COVID-19 vaccines. No “life-threatening” incident in connection to using it has been reported.
“The vaccine experts have briefed me about the [safety] and efficacy of the vaccine. They said one of the safest vaccines is basically from China because it came from the classical vaccine platform,” Galvez said.
“There is no reported adverse and life-threatening incident with this kind of vaccine,” he added.
Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine ‘reliable’
Presidential adviser for entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion said Sinovac had been a reliable COVID-19 vaccine, emphasizing that it is already being used in China.
“Definitely in the Sinovac, the Filipino and Chinese Chamber is supporting Secretary Galvez. We have heard and seen that Sinovac is a reliable vaccine, and actually, they have been using it already in China…” Concepcion said in the same briefing.
“I believe that the Chinese vaccine is similar to AstraZeneca in the case that it is using all technology, and the second thing is it’s also the same level of temperature, two to eight degrees as AstraZeneca…” he added.
Galvez said it would take 60 to 90 days to prepare and ship the vaccine if ever the country would seal the deal this month.
“Meaning, we can foresee that there is the greater, better scenario that we can get the vaccine in the first quarter, maybe March or late February,” he said.
The vaccine czar said the government is hoping to get 20 million to 50 million Sinovac vaccines.