By Pearl Gumapos
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday (Nov. 17) approved the emergency use authorization (EUA) of Novovax’s SARS-CoV-2 rS Protein Nanoparticle Vaccine (Covovax) COVID-19 vaccine.
“Ngayong araw na ito, mayroon tayong dumagdag na bakuna na under emergency use authorization. Ito ay nag-apply sa atin a few months ago at ito ang tinatawag natin na Covovax,” FDA Director-General Eric Domingo said during the Laging Handa public briefing.
To date, the FDA has approved the EUA of eight vaccines in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, here are the companies that have applied for a EUA amendment asking for the inclusion in their EUA the use of their COVID-19 vaccine as an additional dose:
Pfizer (homologous)
AstraZeneca (homologous)
Sinovac (homologous)
Sputnik (homologous and heterologous)
And here are the vaccines that have been approved as booster shots by the FDA:
Pfizer (homologous)
AstraZeneca (homologous)
Sinovac (homologous)
Sputnik light (heterologous booster)
“Gusto nating ipaalala na after a review ng ating mga experts, ang pagdagdag ng bakuna at saka iyong additional dose ng bakuna ay nakita naman po na the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks,” Domingo said.
“Iyong boosters ay iko-consider lang naman when a significant proportion of eligible individuals have been vaccinated,” he added. – bny
