DOST identifies 13 hospitals to facilitate COVID-19 vaccine solidarity trials

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has identified 13 hospitals that will be involved in the World Health Organization (WHO) Solidarity Trial for COVID-19 vaccines.

In a statement on Monday, Science Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said the Interagency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) already approved the recommended hospitals.

These 13 health facilities will facilitate the eight trial zones. The DOST earlier said the recipients of vaccines will be recruited from the 10 barangays with the highest number of COVID-19 cases.

The following are the identified hospitals located in the National Capital Region:

• Philippine General Hospital
• Manila Doctors Hospital
• San Lazaro Hospital
• Lung Center of the Philippines
• St. Luke’s Medical Center- Quezon City
• Research Institute for Tropical Medicine
• Makati Medical Center
• The Medical City
• St. Luke’s Medical Center–BGC

Meanwhile, some of the hospitals are located in different provinces such as Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center and Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City; De La Salle Health Sciences Institute in Cavite; and Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City.

According to De la Peña, the World Health Organization (WHO) Solidarity Trial will start in October and expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2021.

De la Peña said that the Philippines is in agreement with five COVID- 19 vaccine developers that will enable clinical trial data sharing. — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA News