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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 11) – Solidarity trials led by the World Health Organization on possible coronavirus vaccines in the country may begin in late October, the Health Department said on Friday.
The WHO solidarity team aims to decide in the third or fourth week of October which of the 34 candidate vaccines will be tested for safety in clinical studies, Health spokesperson María Rosario Vergeire said in a media forum.
“They only include what they deserve,” he added.
[Translation: Only those which are deserving will be included in the trials.]He added that the WHO has not yet provided the names of the manufacturers of the candidate vaccines being considered for the studies.
The WHO group is also looking to identify sites for medical research, which would need participants from areas with high rates of COVID-19 transmission, in the last week of October.
The Secretary of Science and Technology, Fortunato dela Peña, said Thursday that the government has already identified eight zones for solidarity vaccine trials. Six are in Metro Manila, one in Calabarzon and one in Cebu.
The DOH clarified in a statement issued after the Vergeire briefing that the timeline for the vaccine investigation is tentative, as it may change depending on several factors.
“It is the WHO that will primarily determine the adjustments and changes,” said DOH.
Five companies developing a coronavirus vaccine have signed an agreement that will allow the Philippines access to their research data, but only four companies are seeking to conduct clinical trials in the country, DOST said. These are Seqirus from Australia, Sinovac and Sinopharm from China, Gamaleya from Russia, and Adimmune from Taiwan. Sinopharm is not interested in conducting Phase 3 of its medical research in the Philippines to end this critical phase early.
But DOST secretary Fortunato dela Peña said the WHO-led trial is the country’s priority over independent clinical trials.
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