The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is persuading the public to trust the vaccine screening process of the government concerning the search for safe and effective vaccines.
The encouragement of DOST Sec. Fortunato Dela Peῆa came after a survey found out that many Filipinos are not willing to be injected against COVID-19 once the vaccines are made available in the country.
The department emphasized that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is ensuring that only safe and effective vaccines will be allowed to be administered to Filipinos.
“Hindi naman po siguro bibigyan ng go signal ng FDA kung mayroong ebidensya na hindi siya karapat-dapat (The FDA will not issue a go signal if it is not deserving of approval),” Dela Peῆa assured.
“Magtiwala po tayo sa FDA na siyang nakakaalam kung paano ang basehan na bigyan ng either ng Emergency Use Authority or ng talagang permission to market (We should trust the FDA which knows the basis for granting either the Emergency Use Authority or permission to market),” he added.
Two vaccine developers, Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca, have already applied for an Emergency Use Authority with the FDA. Authorities have already explained that at least 60 percent of the population should be inoculated to achieve herd immunity. – Report from Kenneth Paciente
