People flock to Marikina Sports Complex in Marikina City on Wednesday, June 23, to receive anti-covid vaccine, as the local government aims to inoculate 13,000 people on a single day.-INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
MANILA, Philippines — After Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon called on the government to purchase “more effective vaccines,” vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. defended the country’s anti-COVID jab supply portfolio, saying it went through a “rigorous review” by the government’s vaccine expert panel.
“We ensure that all the policies that we craft and implement are science-based and evidence-based. I will always consider the advice of our experts and not from people who do not want to listen to more prudent and deliberate decision-making,” Galvez said in a statement sent to INQUIRER.net
“All the vaccines in our country’s supply portfolio underwent a rigorous review by the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP), which is composed of the country’s top doctors and vaccine specialists,” he added.
On Monday, Drilon urged Galvez to prioritize the purchase and use of vaccines that have high levels of efficacy, lamenting that Filipinos are being “short-changed” in getting the most effective jabs.
Galvez said the government’s vaccine cluster listens to and follows the assessment of the expert panel on which vaccines to procure “to ensure that they are all safe and effective regardless of brands.”
“In fact, we have seen that all vaccines that have been given Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by our Food and Drug Administration are performing well in the real-world conditions compared to their clinical trial results,” he added.
The vaccine czar cited “initial real-world data” provided by the vaccine expert panel which showed that Sinovac’s “vaccine is 90% effective in preventing intensive care admissions and deaths in Uruguay, and 94% effective in protecting health care workers.”
“This shows that Sinovac is performing well and at par with Western-made vaccine brands. In addition, the China-made vaccine is being used in more than 28 countries around the world,” Galvez added.
“Our VEP (vaccine expert panel) has discouraged us from concluding too early the efficacy of the vaccines against the Delta variant as data gathering is still ongoing,” the vaccine czar went on.
Sinovac’s vaccine was the first brand to arrive in the country.
The government ordered a total of 25 million doses of Sinovac’s vaccine and has so far received 12 million doses of the said brand, including one million doses donated by the Chinese government.