Vaccine selection for WHO solidarity trials being finalized: DOST

MANILA – The World Health Organization (WHO) is considering three vaccines in its highly anticipated Solidarity Trials, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said Friday.

In a virtual briefing with the Department of Health, DOST Undersecretary Rowena Guevara said WHO is apparently down to three choices of vaccines.

The official said the country “would know soon” when the clinical trials will start, noting the delay may also be attributed to the emergence of the more transmissible Covid-19 variants abroad.

“We were informed that the vaccine selection from their end still has to be finalized. Alam mo malaki ang naging epekto kasi nitong paglabas ng variants and nakita nila na mahirap ‘pag double doses ang vaccine (You know, the emergence of these variants had a big impact, they also saw the challenges of having double doses in a vaccine) so they’re trying to find better alternatives to the vaccines available,” she said.

She also noted that there would not be any conflict with the country’s vaccination program which prioritizes medical front-liners and the elderly.

“The inclusion criteria for WHO Solidarity Vaccine Trials does not include these groups so dahil doon wala po tayong conflict (so because of that we won’t have any conflict),” she said.

Last January, the National Task Force on Covid-19 said the Philippines and Colombia will be the first two countries to take part in the WHO Solidarity Vaccine Trials.

The goal of the trial is to coordinate the evaluation of the many candidate SARS-Cov-2 vaccines under development.