The vaccination program, not just the vaccine, will save lives – WHO

MANILA, Philippines – Although manufacturers are beginning to publish promising results from their candidate vaccines against the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized Tuesday that it is not just the vaccine, but also the vaccination program that everyone. countries will implement. place that will protect and save hundreds of thousands of lives.

Kate O’Brien, WHO Director of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologics, noted that despite the public availability of several effective and life-saving vaccines against a number of contagious diseases such as measles, outbreaks continue to occur.

“Getting to the efficacy of the vaccine is like building a base camp on Everest, but the climb to the top is really about delivering the vaccines and this cannot be overemphasized, that the people who need to receive these vaccines are the that are really the focus now, as we start to see that we have vaccines that can actually be very highly effective, “O’Brien said at a briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva.

Pfizer, Modern vaccines

“There is an enormous amount of work to be done and resources that will be needed to deliver the vaccines to everyone who needs them should they actually be released, as some of the press releases indicate they should,” he added.

In recent days, US pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, which are at the forefront of developing a COVID-19 vaccine, released preliminary results of their clinical trials showing that their vaccines are at least 90 percent effective against the disease. severe respiratory disease.

However, Pfizer’s vaccine poses a challenge for low-income countries like the Philippines, as it must be stored in a freezer with a temperature of -70 degrees Celsius or below. Moderna’s vaccine, on the other hand, can be kept at a standard refrigerator temperature of between 2 and 8 C.

Previously, the Department of Health (DOH) admitted that storing Pfizer’s vaccine would be challenging, as public health facilities are not equipped with ultra-low freezers. However, the head of the national COVID-19 task force, Carlito Gálvez Jr., is in talks with the private sector for possible partnerships.

That’s why when selecting the vaccine to be procured by the government, DOH said it was not only considering the characteristics of the vaccine, but also the logistical challenges it can present.

Philippine financing

“Our experts, together with us in the government, analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each vaccine if it is possible or feasible to implement it in our country,” said the Undersecretary of Health, María Rosario Vergeire.

In a briefing with President Duterte Tuesday night, Gálvez said his task force, in consultation with vaccine experts, was evaluating potential vaccines before deciding which one to buy.

He said the government may enter into multilateral agreements with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for the two lenders to function as the Philippines’ financial managers for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines.

The government could also use other funding methods, including a public-private tripartite agreement at no cost to the state.

Duterte said that although the task force would have to follow procurement regulations, it was ready to speed up the process by issuing an executive order.

“If (the acquisition) takes time, then I can go directly and simply give the purchase order and vaccinate the population,” said the president.

Galvez said the task force was looking to buy 30 to 50 million doses of a vaccine next year once it becomes available abroad and in the Philippines.

Ideally, the government prefers that the vaccine it will buy be developed by a manufacturer that has conducted trials in the country. Although Pfizer and Moderna conducted their large-scale phase 3 clinical trials abroad, Vergeire emphasized that this would not prevent the government from purchasing their vaccines.

“As long as they go through the regulatory process and our experts can evaluate the vaccine, and the Food and Drug Administration approves its use, then we can easily procure this set of vaccines,” he said.

‘Very, very limited dosage’

However, at this point, WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan tried to temper expectations by noting that there will be “very, very limited doses” of the candidate vaccines during the first half of 2021.

“Supplies will be limited. There are bilateral agreements that many of the companies have made, so many of the doses have already been reserved by some countries, ”Swaminathan said, adding that WHO remained hopeful that sufficient doses will be appropriated for the global installation of COVAX .

On Wednesday, the DOH recorded an additional 1,383 coronavirus infections, bringing the nationwide case count to 412,097. Cavite reported the highest number of new infections, 81, followed by Laguna (74), Batangas (71), Quezon City (69), and Rizal (67).

The DOH said 143 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 374,666. However, the death toll rose to 7,957 as 95 more patients succumbed to the severe respiratory illness.

Recoveries and deaths left the country with 29,474 active cases, of which 83.8 percent were mild, 8.3 percent asymptomatic, 0.22 percent moderate, 2.7 percent severe, and 4 , 9 percent critical.

—With a report from Jerome Aning

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