No applications yet for emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines in PH — FDA

MANILA, Philippines — No drugmakers have so far applied for emergency use approval of their COVID-19 vaccines in the Philippines, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday.

“We are still waiting for applications. We publish the guidelines on Monday and all the requirements and process is there. But so far, we have not received any formal applications yet,” FDA Director-General Eric Domingo said in an interview over ANC.

It has been two weeks since President Duterte allowed the FDA to grant Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to coronavirus vaccines for possible use in the country.

Securing an EUA from the FDA will allow a new vaccine to be administered in the country.

Domingo earlier said only those vaccines with EUA from their country of origin will be allowed to apply in the Philippines.

The Philippine government is currently in talks with several pharmaceutical companies to secure supply of their coronavirus vaccines.

A supply agreement with British drugmaker AstraZeneca involving at least two million doses of its vaccine has already been signed.

Aside from AstraZeneca, the government is also looking into the vaccines of Pfizer from the US, China’s Sinovac Biotech, and Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute.

EDV