Vaccine expert panel head gets Sinovac shots, vouches for it for fellow seniors

The head of the government's Vaccine Expert Panel on Wednesday vouched for Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine for senior citizens like herself, as the country faces a shortage of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“Ako siguro ‘yung living example nung isang senior na nakakuha ng bakuna at mild na mild ang tawag natin po doon,” Dr. Nina Gloriani said at the Laging Handa briefing, as seen in Joseph Morong’s report on “24 Oras.”

[I might be the living example of a senior citizen who received the vaccines and had very mild symptoms.]

Gloriani, 67, is the chairperson of the Department of Science and Technology's Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP) and a former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Public Health.

“Of course, I heard from my other colleagues, mga ka-edad ko, ‘yung iba parang nagka-flu like symptoms. Pero ganon rin po within one to two days, nawawala na po,” she added.

[Of course, I heard from my other colleagues, those my age, that they had flu-like symptoms. But similarly, within one to two days, they disappeared.]

Sinovac's vaccine received an emergency use authorization from the Food And Drug Administration in February, for persons in the 18 to 59 age range.

On Wednesday, the FDA finally approved its use for senior citizens, amid the dwindling supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Based on the clinical trials in Brazil, Indonesia, and Turkey, Sinovac's vaccine previously posed efficacy rates of 65% to 91%.

Gloriani, who has received two doses of the Sinovac shot, said that the issue with Sinovac’s efficacy may be due to the low number of participants in the trial.

“Pero ang maganda doon sa datos na nakita namin ay nakaka protekta din siya sa mga matatanda na hindi sila nagkaroon ng severe COVID,” she said.

[But what’s good with their data was that it also protects the elderly from getting severe COVID.]

The VEP found that Sinovac’s vaccine produced the same amount of antibodies in senior citizens and young individuals.

“Actually na-extrapolate na po, no? Kunyari doon sa antibodies na na-produce nung elderly or nung more than 60 years old ay halos pareho,” she said.

[Actually, it was extrapolated. For example, the antibodies produced by the elderly or those more than 60 years old are almost the same.]

Gloriani added that China and Indonesia are already vaccinating their over-60 populations with the Sinovac shot.

"Kailangan po sana na tayo ay maka-abot na rin kasi hindi natin pwedeng hintayin nang matagal yung AstraZeneca [I hope we can do the same as we cannot wait too long for the AstraZeneca shot]," she said.

"Kasi po nasa pandemya tayo ngayon at hindi po tayo pwedeng mag-delay nang mag-delay dahil yung bakuna na iniintay natin ay hindi pa dumarating. Kung ano po na meron tayo sana ay magamit na natin," she added.

[Because we are in a pandemic, and we cannot keep delaying our shot because the vaccine we are waiting for has not yet arrived. Whatever we have, hopefully we can use.]

The Philippines has 819,164 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, including 14,059 deaths.  — Joahna Lei Casilao/BM, GMA News