Photo from REUTERS via The Straits Times/Asia News Network
MANILA, Philippines — Medical professionals from the Healthcare Professionals Alliance Against Covid-19 (HPAAC) reminded Filipinos to refrain from immediately rebuffing certain brands of Covid-19 vaccine and wait for scientific publications.
“Wag nating i-condemn ang bakuna ng sobrang aga. Ang problema sa Sinovac wala pa siyang publication at meron nang usapan wala pang [scientific] publication. Kailangan antayin natin yung publication kasi alam naman natin na para ma publish mo yang report ninyo, inaaral yan ng maraming scientist para siguraduhin na wala kayong sinasabing mali tungkol sa mga resulta,” Dr. Antonio Dans, spokesperson for HPAAC, said during a virtual briefing on Monday.
(Let’s not condemn [these vaccine brands] this early. The problem with Sinovac is that there are already discussions about it even though there’s still no scientific publication about it. We need to wait for the publication for it to be published, because many scientists conduct their study about the vaccine to make sure that there’s nothing wrong with the results.)
“Wala pang publication so mahirap namang mag-husga ng di pa nababasa yung papeles niyan,” Dans added.
(There’s no publication yet that’s why it’s hard to judge.)
The statement comes after China’s Sinovac Biotech received backlash for reportedly having only a 50.4 percent efficacy rate at preventing symptomatic infections in its late-stage trial in Brazil.
The Philippines has already secured 25 million jabs of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine according to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque. Of the sum, Roque detailed that at least 50,000 vaccines are expected to arrive by February.
However, due to the efficacy reports released by the researchers from Brazil, several senators have urged the government and the Department of Health (DOH) to rethink their vaccine preference or cancel the procurement of the vaccine from the said brand.
“Lahat po ng bakuna na dapat gagamitin natin ay dadaan po sa isang proseso. So sa ngayon hanggang di pa kumpleto ang datos sa ibat ibang bakuna na pinag uusapan, we are asking po na let us withhold judgement hintayin po natin na makumpleto po ang datos,” Dr. Aileen Espina, national director of the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians and member of HPAAC, also explained during the briefing.
(All vaccines that we are going to use will undergo a process. So until the data of the different vaccines are still incomplete, we are asking that let us withhold the judgment and wait for the complete data.)
“Dapat hintayin natin, wag po natin sabihin agad na ‘pangit [ang vaccine],’ ‘maganda ‘to,’ o ‘dito lang ako.’ Hintayin po natin at sa mga darating na mga araw lilinaw po yan at ang proseso ay palilinawin po ng HTAC (Health Technology Assessment Council) process kaya po ine-emphasize natin na mas importanteng bantayan nating ang proseso,” she added.
(We should wait, let’s not immediately say that ‘this vaccine is not good,’ ‘this one is better’ or ‘I want this one.’ Let’s wait because in the following days, the HTAC will clarify the process that’s why we are emphasizing that it’s important to guard the process.)
Last week, DOH said that a study should be conducted first by the government on whether it would push through with the clinical trial of Sinovac’s vaccine.
“Kailangan pag-aaralan pa rin. Hindi porke it was claimed in some country na may adverse effect, immediately i-stop natin,” Vergeire said in an online media forum.
(That still needs to be studied first.)
“It has to be through that manufacturer also that they will inform us and we will have discussions with them and we will have our experts evaluate this kung talagang valid at saka kailangan itigil muna,” she added.
‘Science by press conference’
Dans used the term “science by press conference” to describe Sinovac’s recent efficacy rate results from Brazil. He added that it is not different from earlier reports released by other vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer.
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“‘Di naman ‘yan kakaiba. Kung natatandaan niyo pati yung [efficacy rate] Pfizer vaccine lumabas muna yan sa press bago sa scientific papers. Natural lang I guess for the companies, binabanggit na yung result di na makahintay ng publication tawag nga namin dyan science by press conference,” he shared.
(That’s not something different. If you can remember, even the efficacy rate of Pfizer’s vaccine was released to the press before on scientific papers. I guess that’s natural for the companies, they share the result and they can’t wait for the scientific publication. We call that science by press conference.)
He urged the public and those who are responsible for the procurement and distribution of the vaccine to examine scientific papers first before making a decision.
“Okay lang ‘yun kumpetensya nila yan isa’t-isa. Pero tayo naman ‘yung mga nagedecide kung aling vaccine ang pipiliin. ‘Di dapat tayo magrerely sa sinabi sa presscon dapat titgnan natin kung ano yung nasa papel kung ano yung nakasulat kasi ‘yon nakataga sa bato, ‘di sila pwede mag sinungaling,” he said.
(That’s okay, it’s how the companies compete with each other. However, we will decide which vaccine we should choose. We shouldn’t completely rely on what is being said during presscon. Instead, we should see what is written in the scientific papers.)