President Rodrigo Duterte will wait for the vaccine developed by state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm to be cleared for emergency use before he subjects himself to inoculation, Malacañang said Tuesday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this remark after announcing that Sinopharm has officially filed an application for emergency use authorization (EUA) before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday.
“Mag-aantay po si Presidente ng EUA dahil nabalita ko nga po kahapon na meron na pong nag-apply for the EUA of Sinopharm (The President will wait for the EUA because I announced yesterday that Sinopharm has applied for an EUA),” he said in a Palace press briefing.
On Monday, FDA Director General Dr. Eric Domingo said he had not received any report that Sinopharm was applying for an EUA.
Health Undersecretary Dr. Maria Rosario Vergeire, in a press briefing before Roque’s, said the Department of Health (DOH) has not yet received any EUA request from Sinopharm.
Roque clarified that it is the FDA, not the DOH, which receives EUA requests. He said he also relayed the information to health officials.
“DOH does not receive applications for EUA, it is the FDA. I shared na po sa ating head’s up Viber Group yung confirmation na naka-file na po ang Sinopharm at meron na pong sagot ang FDA dun sa filing kahapon (I shared in our head’s up Viber Group the confirmation that Sinopharm had already filed and the FDA has already responded to the filing yesterday),” he added.
Once a request for EUA is filed, the FDA will take around 21 days to act on the application.
On Feb. 22, Roque said Duterte prefers to get inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine.
FDA granted Duterte’s security detail a compassionate permit for the use of 10,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine last month.
The Presidential Security Group admitted to vaccinating some of its members in September and October 2020.
Initially, Roque said the President is also qualified to receive vaccine shots from Sinopharm under the compassionate use license since he is the commander-in-chief of the military. (PNA)
