The Presidential Communications Operations Office – Office of the Global Media and Public Affairs (PCOO-OGMPA) is releasing its third episode of “The VAXplainer,” which focuses on the efficacy of the CoronaVac of Sinovac Biotech – the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines that arrived in the Philippines on February 28, 2021, through the generosity of the Chinese government.
“This episode will provide components and specifics of the CoronaVac as a safe and effective vaccine for our medical frontliners and fellow Filipinos against COVID-19 as cited by our medical and health experts,” PCOO Sec. Martin M. Andanar said.
He also mentioned that this episode of ‘The VAXplainer’ gives deeper insights and ideas to the public to help them understand everything about CoronaVac. The PCOO-OGMPA will also produce explainer content videos for AstraZeneca and other vaccines to be soon available in the country.
This episode of “The VAXplainer” also features interviews with two Filipino experts on epidemiology and public health. Dr. Maria Consorcia “Conky” Lim-Quizon, a member of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG), said that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for medical professionals who are at the frontlines since the start of the pandemic.
On the other hand, Dr. Edsel Maurice Salvana, Director of Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology – UP Manila and a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) Technical Working Group on COVID-19 Variants, cited that the COVID-19 vaccine is modified from the original SARS outbreak, which was 17 years ago.
“These vaccines have been in development for the last 17 years. They just swap out ‘yung SARS to SARS-COV-2. The science is there naman to be seen,” Dr. Salvana said during an interview.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Eric Domingo explained the emergency use authorization (EUA) was granted to Sinovac on February 21, 2021 after intensive and meticulous assessment on the Chinese-made vaccine.
On February 28, 2021, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte witnessed the arrival of the first 600,000 doses of CoronaVac as part of China’s commitment to supporting the national vaccination rollout.
Sinovac’s CoronaVac is the third COVID-19 vaccine brand granted an emergency use authorization by the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA), after Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca. EUA was also recently granted to Gamaleya’s Sputnik V, the first Russian-made vaccine against COVID-19.
The “VAXplainer” will be aired on PTV and IBC-13. It will also be livestreamed on the PCOO, NTF COVID-19, and Department of Health’s Facebook pages, as well as other government-affiliated social media pages.
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