FDA: Still no response from PSG on unauthorized vaccination

MANILA, Philippines — The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still has yet to receive a response from the Presidential Security Group (PSG) about their vaccination, which they performed last year without obtaining permission from the drug regulator.

“Wala pa. Wala talaga. Wala kaming makuha na response dyan, kahit ako, kahit si [Health] Secretary [Francisco] Duque, wala pa kaming nakukuhang response,” FDA Director General Eric Domingo said in an online press briefing on Friday.

(No response has been received. We have not received an answer. I, too, have not received a response, nor has Secretary Francisco Duque.)

PSG commander Brig. Gen. Jesus Durante III admitted in December last year that some of their members had administered the “donated” vaccines among themselves as early as September without health professionals’ assistance.

READ: Who administered COVID-19 vaccine? ’We vaccinated ourselves,’ says PSG chief

Later in February, the FDA granted a compassionate use license for 10,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine of the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) at the PSG request.

READ: FDA approves 10K China vaccine doses for PSG use

Earlier in March, the FDA said that it is facing a “blank wall” in its inquiry into some PSG members’ unauthorized vaccination because it has not yet received information about it.

READ: FDA faces ‘blank wall’ on probe of PSG’s use of smuggled vaccines 

Domingo said Sinopharm has yet to apply for an emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine.

abc