The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday said the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine could be approved for emergency use in the Philippines as early as this week.
In a meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte, the chief of the local regulator said it was only awaiting Sinopharm’s submission of required documents, but its evaluation “seems to be very favorable.”
“Iyon pong Sinopharm nag-apply na rin po ang DOH (Department of Health) noong May 20…Mayroon na lang pong kaunting
documents na isa-submit po ang DOH sa atin and we believe that we will be able to ano also complete evaluation and issue an emergency use authorization (EUA) for Sinopharm either towards the end of this week or early next week,” FDA chief Eric Domingo said.
The Sinopharm vaccine was used to inoculate Duterte against Covid-19, even if it has yet to be approved for emergency use.
The FDA granted 10,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccines a compassionate use license in February this year.
After receiving his Sinopharm jab, Duterte ordered China to withdraw all Sinopharm vaccines to avoid criticisms from the public.
According to a recent Social Weather Stations survey, Sinopharm was preferred by 3 percent of Filipinos. John Ezekiel J. Hirro