Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas urged the national government to reconsider buying vaccines with low efficacy rate.
The inter-agency task force leading the country’s response against the COVID-19 pandemic should choose vaccines that are safe and have high rates of effectiveness, Treñas said in an interview over radio station Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo.
The mayor questioned why the country would stick with a 50 percent efficacy rate if other vaccine makers have exhibited higher results so far.
On Saturday, December 26, President Rodrigo Duterte told Food and Drug Administration (FDA) director-general Rolando Domingo to hasten the approval China-made vaccines against COVID-19.
Early this month, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases preferred the vaccine manufactured by Sinovac, a Chinese pharmaceutical company.
Sinovac’s vaccine had an efficacy rate over 50 percent in late-stage trials in Brazil. But in Turkey, the vaccine, based on preliminary results from a small clinical trial, showed an efficacy rate of 91.25 percent.
In a report by GMA News, Jaime Montoya, executive director of the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) Philippine Council for Health Research and Development, said the 50 percent efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine of Sinovac is “acceptable” as it is within the World Health Organization’s (WHO) minimum requirement.
Treñas called Montoya “stupid” for settling for a percent efficacy rate.
“How can we get a stupid guy from the DOST saying that 50 percent efficacy id very sufficient? I am very nervous of this is what they trust. We really have to talk to the medical profession,” he said.
According Treñas, there is no problem with the national government choosing vaccines from China for its immunization program so long as they undergo the country’s regulatory processes to ensure they are safe.IMT
