[ad_1]
The trials of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the country for the vaccine against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) could begin in December.
The early date for Solidarity’s trials looms as the Department of Health (DoH) welcomed suggestions to appoint a “vaccine czar.”
Senator Ralph Recto proposed the appointment of a general supervisor who will focus on delivering the vaccine to 110 million Filipinos.
The Undersecretary of Health, María Rosario Vergeire, said that the appointment of different tsars for the country’s response to Covid-19 allowed for a faster and more focused response because the tasks of testing, isolation, tracking and treatment were assigned to a single person.
He told reporters on Monday that the Health Department welcomes the appointment of a vaccination czar to oversee Covid-19 immunization efforts, but added that the department can handle vaccination efforts on its own if necessary.
“Data pa ho, [immunization] one of the best DoH strategies, especially for kids, adults, and even mothers. If we don’t have (even earlier, immunization is one of the Health Department’s best strategies, especially in immunizing children, adults, and even others, even if we don’t have a vaccine), we’ll still go through the process that we generally have about implementation and distribution of vaccines, ”said Vergeire.
In its meeting with Department of Health officials last Friday, the WHO laid out plans to begin vaccine trials in December and will announce specific trial locations this week.
The trials will be carried out in nine cities in the National Capital Region and one city in Cebu province, where the burden of Covid cases remains high.
WHO country director Rabindra Abeyasinghe said in an earlier interview that the plan was to initially recruit 4,000 participants for the trial, with the possibility of expanding it to 60,000 participants in the first three months of the trial.
Meanwhile, the WHO also revealed that it would stop using interferon, a drug commonly used to treat multiple sclerosis, as part of its separate solidarity trial for therapies, and said there was no drop in the mortality rate for patients who they used the medicine.
As a replacement, WHO will test acalabrutinib, which is used as a treatment for lymphoma, as well as monoclonal antibodies.
Vergeire said that despite interim results showing that remsdesivir might not help in the treatment of severe or critical cases of Covid, the WHO would continue to use the antiviral drug because “they would want more data and they would want more accurate results for remdesivir for masuportahan ‘yung. kanilang initial na results (to back up your initial results) “.
[ad_2]
