PH in talks with drugmakers from China, Taiwan for COVID-19 vaccine

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines has reached out to four drug manufacturers — three from China, one from Taiwan — for a vaccine against COVID-19.

However, it might take a year before a vaccine will be rolled out, the Department of Health said Tuesday.

The DOH is currently negotiating with the drug manufacturers wherein the Philippines will be included in the clinical trials for its vaccines, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

“Mayroon na tayong apat na nakausap na manufacturers, galing sa China sila, and ‘yung isa galing sa Taiwan,” she said in an interview over ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo.

(We already talked to four drug manufacturers from China and Taiwan.)

“Ito ay mga manufacturers ng bakuna at sila ay nakikipag-usap sa atin para makasali tayo sa mga trials na ginagawa nila so that we can have more access to these vaccines,” Vergeire added.

(These are manufacturers of vaccines and they are coordinating with us so that we can participate in the trials they are doing so that we can have more access to these vaccines.)

The Philippines is one of the countries joining the World Health Organization’s Solidarity Trial for vaccines, which is yet to start, the Health official said.

She surmised that it would still take about a year before there would be a vaccine to be used against the respiratory disease as clinical trials take months before it is concluded.

Drug manufacturers will also have to consolidate findings of the trials before they can finalize whether the vaccine is effective against COVID-19 or not.

“Isang taon pa rin natin makikita kung mayroon tayong magagamit na bakuna o wala,” Vergeire said.

(It will take one year before we can know whether there is a vaccine we can use or not.)

So far, there is no vaccine yet against COVID-19.

To date, the Philippines has 82,040 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 1,945 deaths and 26,446 recoveries.

EDV