DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III on Monday, December 7, 2020 said he is willing to be the first person in the country to be inoculated with a vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) to show to the public that it is safe.
“Yes [I will do it]. Definitely. That is a no brainer. Sure. No problem,” Duque said in a television interview.
“I will take it as long as it has undergone scientific evaluation by the Department of Science and Technology’s Vaccine Experts Panel, the Ethics Board Review and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) which will conduct its own regulatory assessment," he added.
Duque made the statement in response to the challenge made by Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go that Duque and vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. be the first to try the vaccine before it is administered to others.
Duque also encouraged his fellow Cabinet members to volunteer and receive the vaccine first.
Duque said the Covid vaccination program might start in March or April 2021.
"We’ve done some scenario analysis under the leadership of Sec. (Carlito Jr) Galvez and I think the best case scenario would be about the end of the first quarter of 2021 or about the start of second quarter of next year," he said.
"A lot of factors will have to be taken into consideration to be able to more definitively set schedules for actual distribution, deployment, and inoculation of our people within our priority list," he added.
The Philippines has received five applications for clinical trials for vaccines against Covid-19. These are from Sinovac, Gamaleya, AstraZeneca, Janssen and Clover.
Meanwhile, Department of Science and Technology’s VEP head Nina Gloriani said the World Health Organization solidarity trial for Covid-19 vaccines in the Philippines might begin in January and may be needed to be participated by 10,000 to 15,000 people.
"Meron tayong pinaghahandaan na 4,000 participants pero baka madagdagan pa ito hanggang 10,000-15,000. Malalaman ngayong linggo kung ilan ang kakayanin,” she said.
Gloriani said among the conditions for the participants is that they should be healthy, must not have received antibodies and must not have contracted Covid-19.
She said the trial will be conducted for three to six months while the participants will be monitored for up to two years. (SunStar Philippines)