A medical worker takes a box of Sinovac’s vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from a refrigerator at a community health centre in Qingdao, Shandong province, China January 5, 2021. Picture taken January 5, 2021. China Daily via REUTERS
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Wednesday welcomed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) inclusion of CoronaVac, the COVID-19 vaccine by the Chinese manufacturer Sinovac, in its emergency use listing (EUL), saying it would curb vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos.
The global health body has approved the Sinovac shot for emergency use, the second Chinese jab after Sinopharm to receive the WHO’s green light.
“I’m happy to announce that the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine has been given WHO emergency use listing after being found to be safe, effective and quality-assured,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference.
“The easy storage requirements of CoronaVac make it very suitable for low-resource settings,” he added.
The WHO said the EUL gave countries, funders, procuring agencies and communities assurance that the vaccine had met international standards. It also opens the door for the jabs to enter the Covax global vaccine-sharing facility meant to provide equitable access to vaccine doses around the world, particularly in poorer countries.
“I’m happy with that news because it would surely help boost confidence in the vaccines because there is another institution (not just the Food and Drug Administration), which is saying that Sinovac, the vaccine [brand] that we use most in the Philippines, is safe and effective,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in an interview over state television.
Loan procurement
Dr. Ted Herbosa, former health undersecretary and special adviser to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said the WHO decision also placed Sinovac in the same category as Western-made vaccines included in the EUL.
“Vaccine hesitancy — among people who are choosy with regards to the vaccine’s country of origin — will dissipate because all vaccines [in the WHO list] have the same effect,” he added.
“With the WHO listing, one criterion [to procuring more loans] has been fulfilled and we can easily buy more doses of Sinovac for our country,” Herbosa said.
Infectious diseases expert and government technical adviser Dr. Edsel Salvana said the WHO listing would be a “big help to [boost] worldwide acceptance” of Filipinos vaccinated with Sinovac.
Overseas workers
The government said it would recommend that other countries now recognize and allow the entry of Filipino overseas workers and guest travelers vaccinated with CoronaVac, amid reports that some countries prefer them to be vaccinated with American brand Pfizer prior to their deployment overseas.
“We will make some recommendation that all countries should recognize the WHO [listing], considering that [it was given by] the highest-level, stringent health authority,” vaccination chief implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said in a television interview on Wednesday.
CoronaVac is largely being used in the Philippines, with 5.5 million doses already delivered. Galvez said the country expected another 4.5 million doses this month. According to the latest data released by the Food and Drug Administration, 1,745,980 individuals have been vaccinated with CoronaVac, including 902,163 who were fully vaccinated from March 1 to May 23.
A4 group inoculation
Also on Wednesday, Galvez said the government would conduct a “symbolic” vaccination of economic front-line workers under the A4 category on June 7.
To “simplify” the inoculation process, this sector of about 13 million people would be grouped by age—starting with 40-year-olds and followed by those 39 and younger. Older adults are more vulnerable to develop moderate and severe COVID-19, Galvez said.
According to the WHO, Sinovac is recommended for use in adults 18 years and older, in a two-dose schedule with a spacing of two to four weeks. “Vaccine efficacy results showed that the vaccine prevented symptomatic disease in 51 percent of those vaccinated and prevented severe COVID-19 and hospitalization in 100 percent of the studied population.”
Few people aged over 60 took part in the clinical trial of Sinovac’s jab. However, the WHO said there should be no upper age limit on the vaccine as there is “no reason to believe it has a different safety profile” in older generations.
The WHO has also given EUL status to vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, as well as the AstraZeneca jab.