Metro Mayors back Covid-19 vaccine trials

LOCAL government officials in Metro Manila are ready to support the Solidarity Trial for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines and assist both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Department of Science and Technology (DoST).

Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said in their meeting with the mayors together with Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Danilo Lim, they assured that they were in full support of the trials and were willing to extend assistance when needed.

“The LGUs (local government units) are really asking what help we need from them because they are very willing to help and assist us,” de la Peña told reporters in an online briefing organized by the Department of Health on Friday.

The WHO Solidarity Trials would be held in nine cities from the National Capital Region and one in Cebu, with at least 4,000 targeted participants from the top five or ten villages with the highest number of cases.

It will also hold trials in 12 hospitals in the National Capital Region, Cavite, Cebu City and Davao City, which include the Philippine General Hospital, De la Salle Medical and Health Sciences Institute and the Southern Philippines Medical Center.

De la Peña said while the final clinical protocol and the list of participating vaccines are not yet released by the WHO, the DoST and the clinical trial proponent, Dr. Jodor Lim of the University of the Philippines, are continuously conducting preliminary activities to prepare the sites for the full implementation of the trial.

He also added that the Department of Health-Bureau of International Health Cooperation and the WHO’s Philippine office has also prepared a proposed process flow on the logistics, handling and cold storage of the vaccines.

De la Peña also revealed that the DoST has passed to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) information on the country’s participation in the Covid-19 Vaccine

Global Access Facility or Covax facility.

De la Peña said the DBM-Procurement Service was worried as the participation in the Covax facility requires the Philippine government to set aside an amount that would ensure a share of the vaccines that would be equivalent to 20 percent of its total population.

“The worry was, what if there is a possibility that none of the vaccines considered by Covax will pass the clinical trials, then what will happen to our committed fund for that vaccine, so that is a matter of weighing the risks against the benefits,” de la Peña said.