Duterte may get Sinovac vaccine as 2nd dose, says expert

FILE PHOTO: A health worker counts used vials of Sinopharm’s coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, at a vaccination center in Karachi, Pakistan February 11, 2021. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte may be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine of Sinovac Biotech as his second dose after asking the Chinese Embassy to take back the 1,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine donated to the Philippines, a member of the Department of Science and Technology’s Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) said Thursday.

According to Dr. Rontgene Solante, the two vaccines from China are very similar, making the Sinovac vaccine a possible substitute for the second dose of the Sinopharm shot.

He said that should the Sinopharm vaccine remain as the second dose for the President, the Chinese state-owned company will have to submit the necessary data to the VEP and the Food and Drug Administration.

“Kung halimbawa hindi na pwede ang Sinopharm, meron namang isang bakuna na magkahawig sa Sinopharm na nabigyan na rin ng approval natin, ‘yung Sinovac,” Solante said in an online media forum.

(If he won’t get the Sinopharm vaccine as a second dose, there is also another vaccine that is similar to Sinopharm, which is the one from Sinovac.)

Asked categorically if the Sinovac vaccine can be used as a substitute second dose for Duterte, Solante said: “Yes, it is possible because they have the same platform.”

The interval for receiving the doses from the two different vaccine brands will still be four weeks, Solante said.

Both vaccines from Sinopharm and Sinovac incorporate inactivated viruses. Similar to vaccines used for polio, inactivated COVID-19 vaccines use the inactivated virus to produce antigens which signal the body’s immune system to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19.

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