Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 18) – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III appealed on Tuesday to President Rodrigo Duterte to allow the Philippine Food and Drug Administration to issue an emergency use authorization or EUA for COVID-19 vaccines that will enter the country.
An EUA gives the FDA authority to facilitate the availability of medical countermeasures, such as vaccines, during public health emergencies like the current COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are respectfully requesting that you consider the issuance of an executive order for the FDA to grant an emergency use authorization for the various vaccines that will enter the country and which applications are to be filed,” Duque told Duterte during the weekly meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Duque added an EUA will speed up the processing time for COVID-19 vaccines to 21 days from the usual six months. The EUA can also be revised or revoked depending on the public health situation.
The Health Secretary added it will help the local FDA scrutinize pharmaceutical companies applying for COVID-19 vaccine distribution in the country, guided by the decisions made by their counterpart regulatory agencies and trusted medical institutions in other countries.
National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez also endorsed the granting of an EUA to the FDA under an executive order issued by the President since this can speed up the distribution of vaccines in the country.
“If we can move swiftly, we can be assured there will be 30-50 million doses for rollout next year,” Galvez said.
Duterte assured that the national government continues to find solutions to the COVID-19 crisis in the country.
“We will look for a solution. Do not despair. Hopefully by the grace of the Lord, by December or January, there can be relief in sight,” the President added.
The Health Department previously said COVID-19 vaccine trials may start this month, to be led by the Inter-Agency Task Force’s Sub-technical Working Group on COVID-19 Vaccine Development, with the Department of Science and Technology as its chair.
