Gov’t checking out bivalent COVID-19 vaccines

The government is eyeing the bivalent COVID-19 vaccines, or jabs designed to target two virus strains, by the end of the year at the earliest.

Department of Health Officer-In-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire during the press conference on Nov. 4, 2022 at DOH Central Office. INQUIRER.net/Noy Morcoso

The government is eyeing the bivalent COVID-19 vaccines, or jabs designed to target two virus strains, by the end of the year at the earliest.

Maria Rosario Vergeire, officer in charge of the Department of Health, on Friday said negotiations with bivalent vaccine developers Moderna and Pfizer were still ongoing, with health authorities set to go through different clearances for regulation.

Vergeire also bared that Moderna recently submitted the complete dossier, or documents regarding the safety and efficacy of its vaccine, to the Food and Drug Administration for the regulatory approval process to begin.

Procurement

Health experts had called for the procurement of bivalent COVID-19 jabs in the wake of the detection of more immune-escaping and highly transmissible virus strains to protect especially the vulnerable segments of the population. Some 74 million individuals had been fully vaccinated in the country.

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