No rush to buy vaccines despite ‘czar’ designation

MANILA, Philippines – The appointment of a former military chief to lead the country’s vaccine initiatives does not mean that the government is rushing its acquisition, and the Department of Health (DOH) said the regulatory process was aimed at ensuring that it was only safe and effective. vaccines are administered to the public remains on site.

The Undersecretary of Health, María Rosario Vergeire, said Wednesday that there would be “no changes” in the vaccine procurement process just because Secretary Carlito Gálvez Jr. was appointed “vaccine czar.”

“The established procedures and processes would still be followed. Most importantly, we will continue to implement our regulatory process to ensure these vaccines are safe and effective, ”said Vergeire.

Safe vaccines

“We will not rush. We know this is urgent, but all of these [vaccines] it will still go through the regulatory process to make sure they are safe and give the desired effect to our population, ”he added.

Gálvez has no public health experience, Vergeire said, and will not be alone in his job as head of the vaccine program. He said that Gálvez, who also serves as the main executor of the national COVID-19 plan, would be guided by experts from the private sector, as well as the Department of Health and the Department of Science and Technology.

“This would be a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach. We will help and support him, ”Vergeire said.

“No process will be changed. I may just add a faster process to speed it up … It was designated [to his post] to make sure that we have a faster and more efficient way to do all these things that we need to get vaccines brought here, “he added.

Previously, Gálvez said that based on the government’s seven-point immunization plan, the evaluation and procurement of a possible vaccine should be completed by the end of the year. By the way, clinical trials in the country of a possible COVID-19 vaccine are not expected to take place until December.

Vergeire explained that the government was considering two mechanisms regarding the purchase of the vaccine. One is through clinical trials and the other is through direct procurement from the vaccine manufacturer.

Vaccine Manufacturer Offers

Just because clinical trials for other vaccines haven’t started yet doesn’t mean the country can’t buy those vaccines that have been tested and are already on the market, he said.

“Many manufacturers say that their clinical trials may be ready by November and that we can now negotiate with them. They already offered us, ”Vergeire said. without disclosing the pharmaceutical companies.

“We are studying all those vaccines that are already in advanced stages of vaccine development. We are looking for what would be most appropriate for our environment, our existing resources and would be bought faster for our population, “he said.

Currently, 11 vaccines are nearing or already undergoing large-scale Phase 3 trials, where the vaccine’s safety and efficacy are tested in thousands of trial participants.

On Wednesday, the country recorded the smallest increase in daily COVID-19 cases in four months, but the DOH said this was partly due to the effects of Typhoon “Rolly” (international name: Goni).

DOH reported only 987 additional infections because some labs were unable to resume operations as they had been affected by the typhoon, Vergeire said.

“We would like to warn that if some labs stop their operations, our production will drop. But we will see an increase as soon as these labs are operational, ”he said.

The last time the country experienced a triple-digit increase in new infections was on July 14, with 634 additional cases.

More recoveries

Additional infections on Wednesday brought the total number of cases to 388,137.

Davao City recorded the highest number of new infections, 136, followed by Iloilo Province (67), Quezon City (47), Taguig City (43), and Iloilo City (41).

The DOH said 140 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 349,091. However, the death toll rose to 7,367 with the death of 49 more patients.

Recoveries and deaths left the country with 31,679 active cases, of which 82.6 percent were mild, 10.1 percent asymptomatic, 2.6 percent severe, and 4.7 percent critical.

The Inquirer Foundation supports our healthcare leaders and still accepts cash donations to be deposited into the Banco de Oro (BDO) checking account # 007960018860 or donate through PayMaya using this link .

Read next

Don’t miss out on the latest news and information.