Palace welcomes Philippine clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines

Manacañang on Sunday welcomed the news about the clinical trials for a possible vaccine against the coronavirus disease 2019.

In a statement, the Palace said that President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed optimism over the news, and it said, "We expect involvement in the vaccine clinical trials by the last quarter of 2020 with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) taking a lead role." 

It adds that the DOST has been tasked to provide the collaborating organizations with the Department of Health, World Health Organization and Food and Drug Administration Philippines, guidelines on the clinical trials.

DOST's task includes the identification of the sites, the local institutions and the Filipino researchers who will be involved in the collaborative trials; assisting local participating institutions in their proposals and budgets; obtaining Ethics Board approvals; and formalizing the agreements, the statement added. —LBG, GMA News