MANILA, Philippines — The country’s vaccine screening authorities will validate the bribery accusations against China’s Sinovac Biotech which is eyeing to supply the Philippines with its coronavirus vaccine.
In a Dec. 4 report, US newspaper Washington Post said Sinovac Biotech had been found to have a record of bribing Chinese drug regulators to secure vaccine approvals, which had raised serious questions about its products’ safety.
READ: Bribery past hounds Chinese firm eyeing PH market for coronavirus vaccines
But Health Secretary Francisco Duque III assured Wednesday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the vaccine experts panel, as well as the Single Joint Research Ethics Board are “aware” of the report and will validate the veracity of the allegations against the Chinese drugmaker.
“We are aware of what’s happening…This will form part of the work of the vaccine experts panel. They assess the veracity, first and foremost, of the report kung meron mang katotohanan ito,” Duque told reporters in an online briefing.
“If true, then it’s up to the vaccine experts panel to include this in the final report and also FDA. Kaya nga meron ding Single Joint Ethics Review Board para makita rin ito at masigurado natin na hindi tayo mabibiktima ng mga ganitong kwestyunableng transaksyon kung totoong nangyayari po ‘yan with Sinovac,” he added.
Sinovac is currently seeking the approval of the FDA to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials here after passing the initial evaluation of the country’s vaccine experts panel. It has already started delivering vaccines to Indonesia.
READ: After passing PH vaccine panel evaluation, Sinovac seeks FDA OK
The government’s pandemic response chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said Sinovac’s coronavirus vaccine may be the first to be rolled out in the country.
He also assured that Sinovac’s vaccine is safe as it utilizes the “classical inactivated virus platform.”
As of Tuesday, there are 442,785 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Phlippines including 408,790 recoveries and 8,670 deaths.