Philippines OKs emergency use of COVID-19 vaccine by India's Bharat

MANILA — The Philippines has given full emergency use authorization to the COVID-19 vaccine made by India's Bharat Biotech, paving the way for the importation of the shots, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday. 

Bharat last week submitted a certificate for good manufacturing practices, completing requirements for the import of its COVID-19 shot called Covaxin, said FDA chief Eric Domingo. 

"Ngayon maaari na po silang mag-import. Maaari na pong gamitin din dito sa bansa po natin," he said in a televised public briefing.
 
(They can now import. It can now be used here in our country.) 

Bharat estimates it can make 23 million doses a month.

Earlier this week, television channel CNBC-TV18 reported that phase-3 data for Covaxin showed an efficacy of 77.8 percent. 

Bharat said its vaccine pricing had been consistently at $15-$20 per dose for foreign governments, a range in which the Brazil contract fell. 

The Philippines has cleared for emergency use COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Britain's AstraZeneca, Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech, Russian Gamaleya Institute, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna. 

Among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia, the Philippines has received at least 16.2 million coronavirus vaccine doses, of which some 8.9 million have been administered. 

– With reports from Jamaine Punzalan, ABS-CBN News; Reuters