Talks with Pfizer, other vaccine developers continue: DOH

bed capacity wherein the occupancy By partnering with the LGUs and rate is at 58 percent and some 1,357 the private sector, Galvez said the beds are available for use. government was able to establish In addition, a total of 28 isolation hospital beds in East Avenue Medical hotels which can accommodate 2,779 Center-Center for Emerging and patients with an occupancy rate at Re-emerging Infectious Diseases 59 percent which means about 1,147 (CERID). beds are still available. Galvez said apart from boosting construction of the National Kidney the country’s isolation facilities, the and Transplant Institute (NKTI)’s government is also aggressively building hemodialysis center with 200 more intensive care units (ICU) beds for hemodialysis machines which will the severe and critical patients, securing greatly benefit Covid-19 patients. an efficient treatment intervention. (PNA) Talks with Pfizer, other vaccine developers continue: DOH By Ma. Teresa Montemayor

The Department of Health (DOH) is holding continuous talks with US pharmaceutical firms Pfizer, Moderna, and other coronavirus disease vaccine developers.

In a virtual media forum, DOH Filipino and English. Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the department has not made any During the meeting, she said commitments yet with Pfizer, which is the department has explained the now on Phase 3 clinical trials. regulatory processes on vaccines and “They (Pfizer) gave an information agreements (CDA). that they’ll not perform clinical trials in additional 250 Covid-19 dedicated In addition to that, is the discussed confidentiality disclosure the Philippines because they’re well “Most of the discussions centered advanced already with their Phase 3 on the CDA that they were able to clinical trial, and, accordingly they said provide to the DOH and we already had by October, their Phase 3 clinical trial is our comments to that. We had a meeting already done,” Vergeire said in a mix of together with DOST (Department of

Science and Technology), there were also comments from them,” she added.

During their discussions, Vergeire said Pfizer asked if the DOH could give estimates on the pre-order of the vaccines.

Citing that pre-ordering in the absence of the products have limitations under Republic Act 9184, Vergeire said concerned “government agencies will have a discussion on it, finalize the CDA and have a meeting again”.

“As to Moderna, we also have a CDA that we’re studying, so, dalawa na sila ng (there’s two of them together with) Pfizer,” she added.

Vergeire also reported that the Philippine Embassy in Russia is planning to coordinate with the Russian government for a meeting with Gamaleya Research Institute, the developer of Sputnik V.

“We explained to them the process, that we have a vaccine expert panel, we have a process in the Food and Drug Administration, and, they’ve taken note of that. Our vaccine experts had a technical meeting about Sputnik V which highlighted their clarifications on the documents and the review of the vaccine’s technical details and these were sent to Russian government for Gamaleya’s response to our vaccine experts panel’s questions,” she said.

The government is also coordinating with Australia for a 48

(Anadolu photo) potential vaccine against Covid-19 being developed by the University of Queensland which is already in the preclinical phase, she added.

All clinical trials in the country, including independent clinical trial, World Health Organization solidarity trial, and clinical trials in partnership with other governments, would go through regulatory processes, Vergeire said.

“And, we have added another layer and that is notifying DOH. It is the objective of the government that we’ll be informed of all these trials so we can monitor and ensure that all these vaccines that will be used in the country will be safe for our population,” Vergeire said.

“Kaya po matagal makipagusap kasi gusto natin siguruhin na safe ang bakuna sa ating mga kababayan (The discussions [with developers] take time because we want to ensure that the vaccine is safe for our fellowmen) and it’s going to give our population the desired effect that they’ll have the antibodies and they can be protected from the coronavirus,” she added. (PNA)