Duque on COVID-19 vaccines: ‘There are no favorites here’

MANILA, Philippines — There is no favoritism being exercised by the government in the procurement of vaccines for the coronavirus disease 2019, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Thursday.

In an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel, Duque said that the procurement for the vaccines and even the conduct of clinical trials in the country are going through the proper process for approval.

“There are no favorites here. As I have said earlier, it goes through the process,” he said when asked if the Philippines was leaning towards acquiring vaccines from China’s Sinovac instead of vaccine manufacturers from other countries.

“The Department of Science and Technology under the most competent leadership of (Secretary Fortunato) Roy Dela Peña, a person of unassailable integrity, has put together the Vaccine Experts Panel to pass upon all of these vaccine candidates using key indicators to ensure safety and efficacy of the vaccines,” he added.

Duque added that ethical issues on the vaccines are also being deliberated by the country’s Single Joint Ethics Review Board.

“Afterwhich, a list will be passed on to FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and use this as a basis for the grant of Emergency Use Authorization para mas mapabilis ‘yung proseso (so that there will be faster process),” he added.

Dr. Anthony Leachon, health reform advocate and former adviser to the National Task Force against COVID-19, earlier questioned the government’s plan to purchase 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech even if it has yet to show enough safety and efficacy data.

Malacañang, however, denied it was favoring the more expensive CoronaVac, made by Sinovac, over other vaccine candidates.

“The reason we are purchasing [CoronaVac] is we cannot immediately get Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque explained.

On Monday, NTF against COVID-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. said the government is looking to finalize negotiations with Sinovac this week for a possible supply agreement of its coronavirus vaccine in the country.

JE