Pangilinan: Why okay Sinovac but not for health workers?

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Monday questioned why the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA)for Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine in the country but did not recommend it for health workers.

“That’s quite problematic. It’s like a half-hearted, half-baked endorsement. How will our citizens who are not frontliners, how will they feel if they are assigned the Sinovac dose rather than the doses which have no negative recommendations?” Pangilinan said in a Senate hearing.

Earlier, the FDA approved the EUA of the vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac.

However, the FDA director general Eric Domingo did not recommend it to be administered on health workers, citing that human trials of the Sinovac vaccine in Brazil, which had medical workers as participants, showed that it is not the best vaccine choice for them.

“Such recommendation by the FDA does not boost public confidence in this particular vaccine,” Pangilinan said.

“I cannot understand the science-based logic that this vaccine should not be utilized for frontliners but can be utilized for the rest of the population,” he added.

Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he is “disturbed” by the FDA’s pronouncement.

“Parang sinisiraan pa ‘yong Sinovac,” he said. “Nakakatakot na ganoon pa naririnig mo. We should exercise caution in saying things like that na hindi puwede sa mga health workers.”

“‘Yong sinasabi nilang hindi puwede sa health workers… all in one eh, one dose. Nakakabit na ‘yong syringe, isasaksak na lang sa’yo pagkatanggal sa packaging,” he said.

“Eh bakit mo sasabihing hindi puwede sa health workers ‘yon? You should be very cautious with things like that.”

Domingo earlier explained that Sinovac’s efficacy ranged from 65.3% to 91.2%, but only reached 50.4% among health workers with COVID-19 exposure.

“This should be administered by vaccination providers and to prevent COVID-19 in clinically healthy individuals aged 18 to 59 years old,” Domingo said.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said 600,000 doses of Sinovac donated by the Chinese government to the Philippines are due to arrive this week.—LDF, GMA News