WHO to announce in 2 weeks COVID vaccine to be used in PH solidarity trials

FILE PHOTO: Vials labelled “AstraZeneca, Pfizer – Biontech, Johnson&Johnson, Sputnik V coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine” are seen in this illustration picture taken May 2, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

MANILA, Philippines – In about two weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) will announce the vaccine to be used in the solidarity trials on COVID-19 vaccines to be conducted in the Philippines.

This was disclosed Wednesday by Dr. Jodor Lim, who also serves as project lead of the solidarity vaccine trial in the Philippines, during the briefing of the House committee on health.

“We are developing our standard operating procedures and the WHO is about to release in about two weeks time the identity of the vaccine that we will use for the trial and hopefully in another months time or about two months from now, a second vaccine will probably be included in the vaccine trial,” Lim said.

According to Lim, the release of the “identity” was delayed because of “international problems and situation that the WHO is in right now.”

“There are a lot of smaller companies compared to the big companies we heard which have actually produced the first batches of vaccines. There are several other companies that would like their vaccines to be used also but may not have sufficient funds to do the trial that’s why they approached the WHO,” Lim said.

In February, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said the WHO is considering three COVID-19 vaccines for its solidarity trials.

“We were told that they [WHO] are down to three choices of vaccines and we will know soon kung kailan po mag-uumpisa itong trials [when the trials would start],” DOST Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said.