As world lauds Pfizer vaccine, DOH urges Filipinos to 'temper expectations'
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health called on the public Wednesday to keep their expectations on the frontrunner coronavirus vaccine of pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and BioNTech grounded as the clinical evaluation of the product is still ongoing.
Pfizer and BioNTech announced early findings from their Phase 3 trial suggesting their vaccine candidate is 90% effective—a welcome news as coronavirus cases surge across the world and government impose lockdowns anew.
While the development is promising, the results are still preliminary, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.
“This news is encouraging but of course, we have to temper our expectations. We should remain grounded on the reality that the virus is still there, that we should still do preventive measures,” Vergeire said in a briefing.
Experts have cautioned against hyping a breakthrough in the fight against COVID-19 before long-term safety and efficacy data have been gathered.
In an earlier interview with One News’ The Chiefs, the Vergeire said that Pfizer and BioNTech’s candidate vaccine will have to be approved by the country’s Food and Drug Administration before it is rolled out for mass use.
The two companies said they will collect more safety data and apply to the US FDA for an emergency use authorization by the third week of November.
In a speech late Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte claimed that the threat of the virus that has killed over a million people and upended daily lives across the globe is less terrifying as he erroneously claimed that vaccines are now available and being sold.
“We do not need to be afraid. We need to stay vigilant, prepared, cautious and aware. We need to always follow minimum health standards,” Vergeire said, referring to wearing of face masks and shields, frequent handwashing, and physical distancing.
Logistical challenges
The government is aiming to buy at least 50 million vaccine doses to inoculate an initial target of 25 million people next year.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said that “realistically speaking,” the bulk of COVID-19 vaccines may reach the country by end-2021 or early 2022 due to high demand and supply limitations. Wealthy countries have already received billions of doses of potential COVID-19 vaccines before they are even approved.
But if everything goes well, the “best case scenario” would be to have vaccines available between May and June 2021, Galvez said.
Duterte said the government will have borrow up to P14.5 billion for the procurement of the vaccines to inoculate the target population, which includes the marginalized, the vulnerable and even uniformed personnel.
Aside from financial challenges, there are also logistical issues with the delivery and storage of these critical goods. Pfizer’s vaccine, for example, needs to be stored at -70 degrees Celsius to maintain its potency.
A key challenge is finding ultracold storage facilities big enough to store COVID-19 vaccines.
“Currently, here in the country, we don’t have existing system with this kind of storage facilities. So that’s included in our planning if and when we’re going to procure this kind of vaccine, which requires this kind of storage.
The Philippines has so far recorded 401,416 COVID-19 cases, with 363,217 recoveries and 7,710 deaths.
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