The government is aiming to start the World Health Organization (WHO) Solidarity Plus Vaccine Trial by October.
The Department of Science and Technology Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) Director Jaime Montoya said that once WHO gives the go-signal, the vaccine trial will be conducted in four to six months.
For this trial, about 15,000 unvaccinated individuals who have not contracted COVID-19 will be needed to take part in this activity.
“It is a global effort [na] tayo lang ang magsisimula sa Asia… Tutulong tayo sa pag-diskubre sa iba pang bakuna na pwedeng magamit laban sa COVID-19,” Montoya told PTV.
In July, the Philippine News Agency reported that the study also aims to determine which among the COVID-19 vaccines could provide the longest protection, and which could be easily administered and manufactured in the country.
According to WHO, the Solidarity PLUS trial is a platform trial that represents the largest global collaboration among WHO Member States. It involves thousands of researchers in over 600 hospitals in 52 countries, 16 more countries than the first phase of trials. This allows the trial to assess multiple treatments at the same time using a single protocol, recruiting thousands of patients to generate robust estimates on the effect a drug may have on mortality–even moderate effects. – Report from Louisa Erispe / CF -rir
