Sinovac suitable for workforce not always exposed to coronavirus — FDA

A medical worker takes a box of Sinovac’s vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from a refrigerator at a community health center in Qingdao, Shandong province, China January 5, 2021. Picture taken January 5, 2021. China Daily via REUTERS

MANILA, Philippines — The China-made Sinovac vaccine is suitable for those in the regular workforce, like construction workers and drivers, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Tuesday.

Although it gave Sinovac’s vaccine an emergency use authorization, FDA did not recommend it to be administered on health workers treating Covid-19 patients and senior citizens, two risk groups which both have the highest chance of contracting the virus.

With the regular workforce, FDA said Sinovac has a 65 to 91 percent efficacy rate, as compared to exposed health workers and seniors, who will only get 50.4-percent protection from the vaccine.

“Lalo na po yung 18 to 59 [years old] na mga workers sa community, for example, maganda po ang kanyang efficacy rate, 65 to 91 percent kaya talagang very good po siya,” FDA Director General Eric Domingo said in an interview over Teleradyo.

(For example, for workers in the community who are 18 to 59 years old, it has a good efficacy rate of 65 to 91 percent, it’s very good.)

“Kung pipili po tayo, akmang akma po sya sa mga kababayan nating mga working age na healthy, nagtratrabaho na hindi naman naggagamot ng Covid.”

(If we were to choose, it’s suitable for our countrymen who are at a working age and are healthy. Those who are working and not treating Covid-19 patients.)

“Sa mga opisina, mga construction worker, mga driver, pwede po talaga yun,” he went on.

(For office workers, construction workers, drivers, it can be used.)

Domingo also clarified that there is “no safety issue” on Sinovac’s vaccines, pointing out that this was due to the fact that participants of the vaccine’s clinical trials were only those aged 18 to 59.

He said Sinovac is now studying if their vaccine, formally called Coronavac, would be suitable for individuals 60 years old and above.

“So ongoing po ngayon yung studies nila. Pag nagkadatos po doon, maaari pong idagdag yun, later on,” Domingo said.

(Their studies are ongoing right now. Once there is data on that, we can later on add them to the list of people who can receive it.)

Some 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines to be donated by the Chinese government are expected to arrive in the coming days, Malacañang said.

EDV