Sinopharm has no pending EUA application with FDA —official

Chinese firm Sinopharm has no pending application for emergency use authorization (EUA) of COVID-19 vaccine, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.

FDA Director General Eric Domingo said this a day after the Presidential Security Group, whose members were inoculated with Sinopharm jab, disclosed that at least 126 of PSG's members got infected with COVID-19, and 45 are still on the active case list.

“For now may dalawa pong sumulat from Sinopharm, hiningian din natin sila ng requirements, pero hindi pa po sila sumasagot at hindi nagsa-submit ng requirements,”(Among Sinopharm applicants, two sent letter of intent for EUA, but have not submitted yet the requirements have asked from them),  Domingo said during the Laging Handa briefing.

“Technically, [there is no] Sinopharm application under evaluation [by the] FDA,” he added.

In December last year, President Rodrigo Duterte spilled the beans about members of the PSG who were inoculated with Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine smuggled into the country.

PSG Chief Jesus Durante III later confirmed the President’s information, saying that the security group members inoculated themselves with Sinopharm.

Lawmakers have called for investigation on PSG members getting smuggled COVID-19 vaccines, but President Duterte said in a public address that the PSG should not cooperate with such a probe.

It was only in February this year that the FDA granted compassionate use permit for 10,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine for the use of PSG members.

A compassionate use permit, however, only allows for legal administration of COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines and is not tantamount to the FDA endorsing the product’s safety and efficacy.

As of posting time, GMA News Online was contacting Durante to comment on PSG members being infected with COVID-19 despite having been inoculated with Sinopharm jab. —LBG, GMA News