WHO: 6 candidate vaccines under study

MANILA, Philippines — Six candidate vaccines against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are under clinical study worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported yesterday.

But acting WHO country representative Socorro Escalante said it will take at least a year for a COVID-19 vaccine to become available to the public.

“WHO is inviting scientists, experts and institutions worldwide to participate in the efforts to develop a vaccine for COVID. At this time, there are six candidate vaccines being studied in various parts of the world,” Escalante disclosed during a virtual press briefing yesterday.

“The earliest a vaccine can be developed and released (for public use) is one to one and half year. That’s the shortest period to develop an effective vaccine,” she added.

According to Escalante, COVID-19 has already spread to 200 countries and afflicted 2.9 million people while 190,000 infected persons have died.

She said a vaccine should be developed to prevent the further spread of infection, which could easily be transmitted from person to person.

However, Escalante said the normal process of developing a vaccine really takes a while.

First, she said, experts should do research and development to identify a potential vaccine.

The process of research takes an average of six months before it could proceed to the laboratory followed by animal study, she said.

“Then there is the clinical trial, which has three phases to test the efficacy and safety of the vaccine before it could be registered to the national regulatory authority that will again evaluate the vaccine before marketing,” she said.

Even after marketing authorizaiton has been approved, Escalante said the regulatory authority will still observe and monitor the safety of the vaccine while being used by the population.  

While awaiting the development of the COVID vaccine, the WHO suggested to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to prepare this early for the evaluation of the soon to be developed vaccine.

“The vaccine development will take time, in the meantime, we encourage the country to prepare the regulatory process in terms of assessment and registration,” Escalante said while stressing the need for the Philippines to prepare a vaccine strategy to provide and prioritize the vulnerable population in the vaccination.

She said the Philippines has experts and may now prepare its capacity and technology for the local production of the vaccine.

In the absence of a vaccine, Escalante said the Philippines should focus efforts on non-pharmaceutical interventions such as washing of hands and coughing etiquette to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Health Undersecretary Maria Vergeire advised the public not to purchase and use drugs being marketed as vaccine against COVID-19.

She said that drugs to treat COVID are yet to be developed.

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