The Philippines wants equitable access to COVID – 19 vaccines once developed and becomes available, as the country joins the World Health Organization’s solidarity trial.
Focusing on a greater role in the global effort to develop a vaccine for the disease, presidential spokesman Harry Roque mentioned that the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has adopted the recommendations of the sub-Technical Working Group on Vaccine Development for the country’s participation in the Solidarity Trial of WHO.
“Provided that the Philippines will have an equitable access and secured portion on the eventual global vaccine supply,” the IATF said in Resolution No. 47 dated June 19.
The IATF also gave a go signal to the allocation of necessary funding for the country’s participation in the trials to be included in the 2021 budget of the Department of Science and Technology.
It is also pushing for the creation of a separate panel under the sub-Technical Working Group on Vaccine Development “to provide technical support for local pharmaceutical companies.”
The Philippines is now in participation in the WHO Solidarity Trial announced by the Department of Health (DOH) in April.
This move was in response to the WHO’s launch of an international randomized and adaptive clinical trial “Solidarity” to test the safety and effectiveness of four possible therapies in treating COVID-19.
According to WHO, more than 100 countries joined the Trial with more than 1,200 patients in random from the first five countries to assess the safety and efficacy of four drugs and other drug combinations.
Source: philstar.com
Photo Source: msn.com, Johannes Eisele, scmp.com, Phil Star
