A medical worker takes a box of Sinovac’s vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from a refrigerator at a community health center in Qingdao, Shandong province, China January 5, 2021. The picture was taken on Jan. 5, 2021. China Daily via REUTERS
MANILA, Philippines — While China claims that Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine has shown high efficacy when used on minors, its prospect of being administered to Filipino children and adolescents remains under government review, officials said on Tuesday.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila announced on its Facebook page that phase II clinical trial results of CoronaVac had shown at least 98.9-percent efficacy in producing antibodies among people age 3 to 17.
It showed an efficacy even higher in children “than in population over 18 years old,” the embassy said, citing the results of a Sinovac study.
“The experiment included 180 volunteers within the age group. Three months after vaccination, the production of antibodies among population age 3 to 17 years old was 98.9 to 100 percent depending on the dosage of the inoculation,” it said, quoting the Chinese manufacturer’s statement.
Eric Domingo, director-general of the Food and Drug Administration, however, said Philippine experts were still reviewing available data on CoronaVac.
“Approved in China, not yet in the Philippines. It is now being evaluated by our experts,” he said in a text message when sought for comment on the Chinese Embassy’s Facebook post.
Sinovac had earlier applied to amend its emergency use authority in the Philippines to cover the 3 to 17 age group, Domingo said earlier this month. In early June, China approved emergency use of CoronaVac in people age between 3 and 17.
Preliminary results from Phase I and II clinical trials showed the vaccine could trigger an immune response in 3- to 17-year-old participants, and most adverse reactions were mild.
China has also begun inoculating teenagers 15 to 17 years old in “multiple provinces and cities” this month.
Indonesia, too
In late June, Indonesia recommended the use of CoronaVac Sinovac for people age 12 to 17.
The Philippines has widely used CoronaVac in its immunization program that began in March. Out of 26 million doses acquired, 14.5 million doses have been delivered, including 1 million doses donated by the Chinese government, as of July 17.
The World Health Organization in June approved emergency use of CoronaVac, saying results showed it prevented symptomatic disease in 51 percent of recipients and prevented severe COVID-19 and hospital stays.
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said the country still had a stockpile of 12.83 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines that could last for 32 days, or up to Aug. 17.“So we have ample supply and we will not be worried during the month of August,” Galvez said during a meeting with President Duterte on Monday night. With this level of a stockpile, an average of 400,000 doses per day would be administered, said the chief implementer of the National Task Force Against COVID-19.
So far, the government has administered some 15 million doses, with 4.7 million individuals getting the full two doses.
Vaccines have been redeployed to Northern Mindanao, Metro Manila, Western Visayas, and areas placed under the strictest quarantine levels, enhanced community quarantine, and modified enhanced community quarantine, after the Delta variant was detected in local cases, according to Galvez.