Palace sees possible delay in arrival of Sinovac vaccine

The expected February 23 arrival of 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese firm Sinovac could be delayed due to the absence of an emergency use authorization (EUA), Malacañang said Thursday.

“Kapag hindi po lumabas ang EUA, baka maantala din ang pagdating ng 600,000 ng Sinovac,” said presidential spokesperson Harry Roque at a press briefing.

An EUA, issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is needed to legally administer a vaccine in the Philippines.

“Nais rin muna nating makuha itong EUA para po kapag dumating [ang vaccine], magagamit agad,” Roque said.

Roque, however, said that the 5.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca under the COVAX Facility are expected to be delivered to the country within February.

Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr has earlier said The delivery of vaccines from the World Health Organization (WHO)-led COVAX Facility will be delayed by a week due to the absence of an indemnification law in the country.

Galvez earlier told the Senate that the country could have received 117,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by now if the Philippines had an indemnification law.

The Philippine FDA has only issued EUA to two COVID-19 vaccine brands so far: Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca, which have been found to be 70% to 95% effective, respectively, in preventing COVID-19. —KBK, GMA News