The government still doesn’t have enough supply of Covid-19 vaccines to start the inoculation of minors for now, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III issued the statement as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it is now poised to amend the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of the Covid-19 vaccine of Pfizer-BioNTech so it could be used to inoculate those in the 12 to 15 years age group.
This, if ever, would make the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine brand to be allowed locally to be used for teenagers.
FDA Executive Director Eric Domingo said Pfizer applied for its amended EUA on May 20, 2021, in order to secure permission to use its vaccines for those below 18 years old.
The EUA is a document issued by the FDA for Covid-19 vaccines, which have yet to complete the necessary clinical trials so they could be used locally.
“Early this evening, I already got the recommendation of our experts and it is very favorable. So within the week, we will be issuing an amendment to the Emergency Use Authorization of Pfizer and it will be able to use it in children 12 to 15 years old,” Domingo said.
Pfizer is one of the most sought-after Covid-19 vaccines among Filipinos due to its reported 95-percent efficacy rate.
Duque, however, issued a clarification on FDA’s statement.
“But I must clarify that since we still lack [doses] of vaccines and they are not part of the high-risk group, we still cannot include them [in our vaccination drive],” he said in an interview with PTV on Thursday.
Many of the high-risk groups, particularly senior citizens and those with comorbidities, have yet to get their Covid-19 jabs, Duque noted.
He stressed the government must stick with its priority sectors first since they are the mostly likely to be hospitalized or at risk of succumbing from Covid-19 complications.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the government might consider vaccinating teenagers once the Pfizer vaccines purchased by the government arrive.
Currently, the government only has about 193,050 doses of Pfizer Covid-19 jabs, which came from the Vaccines Global Access (Covax).
Vaccines from the Covax facility can only be used for health-care workers, senior citizens, and those with comorbidities.
Chief implementer of the government’s national policy on Covid-19 Carlito G. Galvez Jr. said another 2.2 million doses of Pfizer vaccines are scheduled to arrive next month.
In a related development, Domingo said they are now moving on the EUA application by the DOH for the Covid-19 vaccine of Sinopharm.
He said they have nearly completed the evaluation for the Sinopharm vaccine and are now expected to come out with a “favorable” decision on the application this week or early next week.
Sinopharm vaccine was used to inoculate President Duterte, as well as members of the Presidential Security Group under a Compassionate Use Permit issued by FDA.
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