Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine expected to get EUA by January — FDA

(Photo by JOEL SAGET / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — The application for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of  American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer in the Philippines may be approved before the end of January, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday. 

 “Since we’re working now, I would say before the end of January,” FDA director-general Eric Domingo said in an interview on ANC’s Headstart when asked for a timetable on the approval of Pfizer’s EUA application.

 “The evaluation is going to take about two weeks, so it was given to us right before Christmas. So I’m giving the evaluators up to the first week of January and of course, I have to consolidate the report,” he added. 

Food and Drug Administration Director General Eric Domingo. (Consuelo Marquez / INQUIRER.net)

 “An EUA is not a one-letter certificate. It’s going to be a big document that will specify all of the conditions for authorization.”

 Pfizer submitted its application for EUA in the Philippines last Dec. 23, Malacañang previously announced. 

The EUA is seen to shorten the FDA’s process of approving COVID-19 vaccines from six months to just 21 days. The FDA’s issuance of an EUA also means that the agency recognizes the vaccines’ approval by regulatory bodies overseas.

 Pfizer has already secured an EUA from the United States’ FDA. 

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