Brazil event won't affect Sinovac application for Philippine clinical trials, says DOH

The application of Chinese potential COVID-19 vaccine Sinovac to conduct Phase 3 of its clinical trials in the Philippines will not be stopped despite the reported severe adverse event in its trials in Brazil, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire made the clarification after Sinovac’s trial in Brazil was suspended due to an adverse event on one of the volunteers.

Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency’s Dimas Covas, however, said in a Reuters report that the adverse effect was not related to the Sinovac vaccine.

“Iyong nangyari sa Sinovac sa ibang bansa, the manufacturer (Sinovac) should officially inform us since and this will be an additional information for us,” Vergeire said.

“Hindi porket it was stopped sa ibang bansa ay ii-stop na rin natin. We should be officially informed, and there should be discussion and evaluation,” she added.

Sinovac has already secured approval from Philippine vaccine experts panel but it is yet to get approval from the Ethics Board and the Food and Drug Administration.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. has earlier said that the vaccine experts panel is evaluating 17 potential COVID-19 vaccines so far but he is yet to provide the details on these candidates.

The Philippines has recorded 399,749 COVID-19 cases so far. Of this number, 361,919 recovered while 7,661 died. The number of active COVID-19 cases is at 30,169. —KBK, GMA News