MADE IN CHINA A doctor shows the Sinovac vaccine. AFP File Photo
MANILA, Philippines — Calling it a case of “self-contradiction,” some lawmakers are seeking clarification over Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recommendation not to administer Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine to healthcare workers and senior citizens even if it also granted the jab an emergency use authorization (EUA).
House Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano said FDA’s “contradicting statements” only cast doubts on the efficacy of the China-made vaccine as it also signifies that the EUA issued to Sinovac was “half-baked.”
Paduano likewise noted that “rather than shed light on the use of the vaccine, the FDA has further eroded public trust and confidence in inoculation.”
And so, for Paduano, FDA should issue a classificatory statement regarding the matter at the soonest time possible.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate also raised concerns over the FDA’s advice against the use of Sinovac on healthcare workers and senior citizens, as he hit the national government’s “dilly-dallying” amid the pandemic.
“Bakit kasi parang sa Sinovac/CoronaVac lang parang nakaasa ang vaccination program ng administrasyon? (Why is the administration depending on Sinovac/CoronaVac for the vaccination program?),” Zarate asked.
Sinovac’s vaccine is named CoronaVac.
According to Zarate, the arrival and use of other Covid-19 vaccines should be expedited so that frontline workers in the healthcare sector and the elderly can be inoculated soon.
“The longer this takes, the longer will it take also for our economy to prosper. This dilly-dallying affects not only our economy but also the very lives of our people – this has to stop,” Zarate said.
To recall, FDA on Monday announced that it has granted a EUA to Sinovac, a day before the donated shipment of 600,000 vaccine doses from China was supposed to arrive.
However, FDA Director-General Eric Domingo said the vaccine’s efficacy rate on healthcare workers stands at 50.4%, which makes it not the best vaccine to be given to medical frontliners who are exposed to Covid-19 patients.