WHO tells PH to prepare for antiCOVID-19 vaccine

MANILA, Philippines — While a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is still under development, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised the Philippine government Monday to already set up mechanisms that would help expedite the processing, accreditation and deployment of the vaccine in the country.

WHO acting country representative Socorro Escalante said that because it would take between a year and a half for the vaccine for COVID-19 to be available in the market, the Philippines should in the meantime formulate its strategy on how its rollout can be fast-tracked.

“We encourage the country to prepare its regulatory processes, in terms of the assessment and evaluation of the vaccine to help fast-track the registration of the vaccine. The government should also have a vaccine strategy, which would prioritize the most susceptible, such as the health care workers and those with comorbidities,” Escalante said.

198 new cases

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country was 7,777 as of Monday with the addition of 198 new cases.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said a total of 932 people had recovered from COVID-19 with the recovery of 70 more patients.

But the death toll climbed to 511 as 10 more patients were reported to have died.

Nearly 70 percent of those who succumbed to the severe respiratory disease, or 353 patients, belonged to the elderly population, most of whom were not vaccinated against influenza and pneumonia.

Escalante added that a feasibility study should also be done on how the vaccine can be locally produced. While the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine is capable of doing this, she said that it could only do so now on a “small scale.”

“There is also a need to develop the laboratories so it can test the quality and safety of the vaccine because the Philippines doesn’t have that right now,” she said.

6 vaccines

Earlier, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that though vaccine research for COVID-19 was progressing “at an incredible speed,” it would still take time for it to become available to the public.

Escalante explained that this was because the research and development phase alone would take around six months. After that, laboratory and animal studies would be done, followed by three phases of clinical trials to determine its safety and efficacy.

Once these steps have been completed, the Food and Drug Administration will evaluate the vaccine and issue the necessary marketing authorization.

To date, Escalante said there are six vaccines under development in various countries.

Pending the availability of the vaccine, the WHO launched the Solidarity Trial, which aims to test the safety and effectiveness of several potential medicines.

Among these are remdesivir, a drug that is under research for the treatment of other coronaviruses; the anti-HIV drugs lopinavir and ritonavir, and the combination of the two and interferon; and the antimalaria drug chloroquine.