Health experts assure that available approved COVID-19 vaccines in the country are still effective amid the emergence of new COVID-19 variants.
Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Eric Domingo said current data show Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine still has a 93% efficacy against the Alpha variant from the United Kingdom, and 88% efficacy versus the Delta variant that originated in India.
He said AstraZeneca’s vaccine also has a 66% efficacy against Alpha variant and 60% against Delta variant.
Domingo said there have been no written studies yet on the efficacy of Janssen, Moderna, Sinovac, Sinopharm, and Sputnik against the Delta variant, but “initial reports indicate that they are also useful.”
“But of course we expect that it will be a little lower than the original efficacy doon po sa original na variant po ng ating bakuna. So ibig pong sabihin, lahat naman po ng bakunang ito wala naman pong nawawalan completely ng bisa even with the Delta variant,” he said.
Dr. Alethea de Guzman of the Department of Health (DOH) Epidemiology Bureau supported Domingo’s claim during the June 22 Palace briefing, but noted that two doses are needed to achieve desired protection from the variants.
“Kapag nagkaroon tayo ng tsansa, magpabakuna na tayo. Kapag nakuha na ang unang dose, dapat sundan natin at bumalik para sa ikalawang dose,” she advised.
Local health experts said the Delta variant is four times more contagious than the original strain of COVID-19 from Wuhan. No Delta community transmission has been recorded in the country yet.
President Rodrigo Duterte has directed on Monday night (June 21) to expedite vaccine distribution in the country amid the reported COVID-19 case increase in some parts of Visayas and Mindanao and the threat of the new variant.
“As long as we have the supply in a steady manner, there is no reason why we should also dilly-dally in the distribution of the vaccines in the provinces,” Duterte said in his public address.
Vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said another logistics management discussion will be conducted today to address challenges in the delivery of vaccines in rural areas.
“Na-compute na po namin ‘yon na if we have 81 provinces kasama ang NCR, talagang ang pinakamalaki pong makukuha ng isang probinsya is only 15,[000] to 20,000 [doses],” Galvez said.
Aside from this, Galvez said vaccines will continue to be delivered in the country in bulk in the coming days, including the Sinovac shipment on June 14 and first Moderna delivery on June 27. Doses from the COVAX Facility and from the United States donation may also arrive “before the end of June.” – Report from Mela Lesmoras/AG-rir
