PRRD ‘happy’ over progress of Covid-19 vaccine dev’t

“Ang masabi ko sa inyo na good news (The good news I have to share) is that we believe and I believe too that many countries has now perfected some vaccine. Maybe some are haphazard kasi madalian eh (because they need to rush it). The quest for vaccine takes time, years. Dito nagmamadalian (Here, they’re hurrying) at least we have a medicine that would fight Covid,” Duterte said in a public address late Monday night. (File photo: CDC/Unsplash)

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte is happy to learn that many countries have made significant progress in the development of a coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccine.

“Ang masabi ko sa inyo na good news (The good news I have to share) is that we believe and I believe too that many countries has now perfected some vaccine. Maybe some are haphazard kasi madalian eh (because they need to rush it). The quest for vaccine takes time, years. Dito nagmamadalian (Here, they’re hurrying) at least we have a medicine that would fight Covid,” Duterte said in a public address late Monday night.

Earlier, Malacañang welcomed the result of a UK clinical trial on dexamethasone which was found to have reduced deaths among severely ill Covid-19 patients by 30 percent.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque acknowledged that the steroid has been hailed as a “major breakthrough”, but pointed out that the findings showed that it could only reduce deaths by about 30 percent in critical Covid-19 patients.

“We definitely welcome it. Although we don’t think it’s a miracle pill, kasi ang findings po (because the findings show), it can save about 30 percent of seriously ill patients. We want a cure that will save 100 percent, if not a majority of those who fall seriously ill,” he said.

In his 13th report to Congress on the government’s Covid-19 response efforts, Duterte said that 288 patients have enrolled in the Solidarity Trials of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The “Solidarity Trial” is an international clinical trial launched by WHO and its partners to test the safety and effectiveness of possible vaccines against Covid-19.

“This is more than half of the targeted 500 patients in the Philippines, with a total global target of about 5,000 patients,” the report read.

The report also showed that there is an ongoing discussion with international partners on Covid-19 vaccines.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) technical working group on vaccine clinical trials meets every Thursday to discuss concerns regarding vaccine collaborations.

Since its launch, over 100 countries have joined the Solidarity Trial to evaluate the effectiveness of four drugs and drug combinations.

Four possible drugs and drug combinations that have been tested in the trial include chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine, remdesivir, lopinavir or ritonavir, and lopinavir or ritonavir with interferon beta-1a.

On June 17, WHO announced that the hydroxychloroquine arm of the Solidarity Trial to find an effective Covid-19 treatment was being stopped following findings that it does not result in the reduction of mortality of hospitalized Covid-19 patients.

WHO, however, clarified that the decision is only applicable to the conduct of the Solidarity Trial and not to the use or evaluation of hydroxychloroquine in pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis in patients exposed to Covid-19.