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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 25) The Philippines can meet the goal set by Malacañang of having a COVID-19 vaccine ready by April next year, but only if all goes according to plan, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday.
FDA Director General Eric Domingo said agencies can meet the schedule if clinical trials, including the global initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO), are completed in the shortest time possible. He added that this will only happen if the manufacturers pass all the requirements and present the proper documents.
“In the best case scenario, if clinical trials are completed in December or January, then a company will submit an application, then we may have an approved vaccine by April 2021,” he said in an online media forum. “In the best Talagang case, three to six months for three months.”
[Translation: But that is really the best case scenario, if instead of 3-6 months duration, it is finished in 3 months.]Vaccine clinical trials typically last 3 to 6 months.
However, Secretary Fortunato dela Peña of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is not too optimistic.
“By estimating (in my estimate), when they say three to six months, we prepare to use the longest forecast in our estimates.”
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque previously said that the government expects the vaccine to be approved by the FDA for large-scale distribution in April 2021. He said that President Rodrigo Duterte could be inoculated with an approved vaccine, specifically Russia’s Sputnik V, May 1 at the earliest.
The DOST said that the WHO Solidarity Trial for the COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines may begin in late December, adding that a vaccine may be available by the second quarter of 2021 at the earliest.
“The very early forecast for the second quarter of 2021 is still the best forecast we can give,” said the head of DOST.
Government agencies have yet to approve independent clinical trials in the country. However, five companies have shown interest in conducting Phase 3 of medical research in the Philippines.
All requests for independent trials must be evaluated by DOST, the ethics board, and the country’s panel of vaccine experts. If they pass the standards, companies must obtain a regulatory certificate from the FDA.
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