Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. insisted that the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine is “performing well and at par” with vaccines made by western countries.
This came after Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon encouraged Galvez to purchase more effective yet less expensive vaccines, citing the deaths of health workers in Indonesia fully vaccinated with Sinovac.
Galvez maintained that all COVID-19 vaccines available in the country underwent “rigorous review” by the Vaccine Expert Panel (VEP). He added the procurement is based on VEP’s assessment “regardless of the brand.”
“Based on initial real-world data provided to us by our VEP, Sinovac is 90% effective in preventing intensive care admissions and deaths in Uruguay, and 94% effective in protecting health care workers (Indonesia),” Galvez said.
“This shows that Sinovac is performing well and at par with Western-made vaccine brands. In addition, the China-made vaccine is being used in more than 28 countries around the world,” he added.
Galvez said VEP discouraged them from making conclusions on vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variants as studies are still ongoing.
Sinovac ‘performing well and at par’ with Western-made brands – Galvez
“We ensure that all the policies that we craft and implement are science-based and evidence-based. I will always consider the advice of our experts and not from people who do not want to listen to more prudent and deliberate decision-making,” Galvez ended.
On Wednesday, Drilon questioned the government’s apparent preference for Sinovac over other COVID-19 vaccines.
The senator claimed that the price of Pfizer is quite lower than Chinese vaccine.
“That’s a basic logic: why choose a vaccine that is less effective yet more expensive over a vaccine that is more effective but less expensive?” Drilon asked.
According to Philippine FDA evaluation, Sinovac’s efficacy rate is 65% to 91% for those aged 18 to 59. However, its efficacy rate on health workers and the elderly is 50.4% and 51%, respectively.
On Monday, one million more doses of CoronaVac arrived in the Philippines. In addition, the country has received a total of 12 million doses of Sinovac from China.
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