MANILA, Philippines — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to confirm if China’s state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm has indeed applied for an emergency use authorization (EUA) in the Philippines for its COVID-19 vaccine.
“As of Friday, there was no application. I’m not sure if they filed online,” FDA Director-General Eric Domingo said in a text message to INQUIRER.net when asked to confirm presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s statement that Sinopharm has already applied for an EUA.
READ: Sinopharm seeks EUA for Covid-19 vaccine in PH
Domingo said the FDA office is closed because of the observance of Muntinlupa Day.
Roque earlier said that President Rodrigo Duterte prefers to get the Covid-19 developed by Sinopharm.
The FDA earlier allowed the compassionate use of 10,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines for members of the Presidential Security Group. This means that the vaccines can be administered to them even without an EUA.
So far, only Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac Biotech have secured EUA from the Philippines’ FDA for their Covid-19 vaccines.