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MANILA: The Philippines has documented six cases of the South African coronavirus variant, its health ministry said today, raising concerns among its experts that current vaccines could be less effective.
The Philippines began its Covid-19 vaccination campaign yesterday, an important milestone for a country among those most affected by the pandemic in Asia, but the discovery of another variant could complicate its recovery effort.
“While there is no evidence that this variant causes more serious disease, the pattern of mutations within this variant suggests greater transmissibility and may have an impact on the efficacy of the vaccine,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Of the six cases with the South African variant, three were detected locally and two were Filipinos returning from abroad. The origin of the other case was still being verified.
The Philippines has so far found 87 cases with the most transmissible variant.
President Rodrigo Duterte has said he would lift restrictions on businesses and public transportation in the capital Manila once the government has secured between 20 and 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccines.
Although the Philippines has been in talks with most of the major coronavirus vaccine manufacturers to purchase 161 million combined doses, it has struggled to close deals, while stiff competition has restricted supply.
Its first shipment of 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines on Sunday was a donation from China, part of which will be used to inoculate military personnel.
The delivery of 1 million more doses of Sinovac injections is expected this month, which according to a Brazilian institute is effective against the British and South African variants. – Reuters
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