Vergeire to new FDA chief: Explore product registration of COVID-19 vaccines

As she welcomed the appointment of Samuel Zacate as head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire issued "marching orders" to streamline the processes within the agency and explore manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccines that will be registration.

At the press briefing, Vergeire said her first "marching order" for the new FDA chief is to "facilitate and expedite the needed technologies for COVID-19 vaccines amid pandemic."

Vergeire said she also directed Zacate to explore with COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers possible registration of their products for use in the Philippines

"Ang isang direktiba na binigay natin sa kanila kailangan makapag-explore sila ng manufacturers kung sino yung may intention mag-apply ng kumpletong CPR (certificate of product registration) among our COVID-19 manufacturers. If and when ma-lift and state of calamity kailangan natin ng CPR para sa COVID-19 vaccine,” Vergeire said.

“Kailangan mas maging efficient sila sa kanilang mga pagproseso, they need to streamline their processes. They need to make their processes more efficient, they need to speed up their evaluation and all of these technologies and evaluations being undertaken by this office para mas maging maganda ang outcomes natin and we can be able to have more access sa technologies for our community,” she added. 

Zacate is a known public health advocate with years of expertise in medicine and medical consultancy in various government offices, Malacanang said.

He was a diplomate of the Philippine Society for Venereology and a fellow of the International College of Surgeons, it added.—LDF, GMA News