The Office of the President, on the recommendation of the Department of Health and the Department of Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday included Portugal, India, Finland, Norway, Jordan, and Brazil in the list of countries and jurisdictions subject to travel restrictions owing to the new strain of the coronavirus.
This developed as the Philippines will soon be granting an emergency use authorization (EUA) for a COVID-19 vaccine, its health regulator said Wednesday, as nations across the world began inoculating their populations to quash new infections.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said foreign passengers coming from or who have been to Portugal, India, Finland, Norway, Jordan, and Brazil within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines shall be prohibited from entering the country effective January 8 at 12:01AM Manila time until January 15, 2021.
Effective immediately, foreign passengers coming from, or who have been to the six new countries on the list within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines, and are arriving before January 8, 2021, 12:01AM, Manila time, shall be allowed to enter the Philippines.
However, Roque said they shall be required to undergo an absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period, even if they obtain a negative RT-PCR test result.
Also, effective immediately, Filipino citizens coming from, or who have been to the six countries or jurisdictions, within 14 days immediately preceding arrival in the Philippines, including those arriving after January 8, 2021, 12:01AM, Manila time, shall be allowed to enter the Philippines.
Like the foreigners, Pinoys shall be required to undergo an absolute facility-based 14-day quarantine period, even if they obtain a negative RT-PCR test result, Roque noted.
“Filipino and foreign passengers merely transiting through the abovementioned/jurisdictions countries shall be covered by the rules as provided in the Memorandum from the Executive Secretary dated December 31, 2020,” he said.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Eric Domingo said the vaccine developed by US drugmaker Pfizer and German partner BioNTech may be given the green light in the country within days.
“We are not taking long while waiting and believe me, we are making this as quick as possible and I’m quite sure we will be out with the authorization within a week. That is quite short if you compare to other countries,” he said in an interview on ANC.
Pfizer and BioNTech’s candidate vaccine were among the first to declare their efficacy rate against COVID-19. With an efficacy rate of 95 percent, their vaccine was soon approved for emergency use by the United States and the United Kingdom.
They are the first to have applied for EUA in the Philippines. Application for EUA was made on Dec. 23 and evaluation started on Dec. 28, Domingo said.
“All the others have not applied so there’s nothing for us right now to evaluate or to grant and we’re just actually waiting for them and hoping that they will apply soon,” he added.
Multinational firm AstraZeneca has also submitted an application for an EUA for f its COVID-19 vaccine, Domingo said. He said the processing and evaluation would take three to four weeks, depending on the completeness of their submission.
Domingo also said China’s Sinovac and Russia’s Gamaleya Institute had already asked for requirements for a possible emergency use of their vaccines in the country. China’s Sinopharm and Moderna have yet to contact the FDA, he added.
Domingo said health authorities were already preparing for the procurement of the vaccine.
“Everything’s being prepared. Everything’s being readied for the rollout but securing the actual vaccines would probably take some more time even after the EUA,” he said.
The country is now in advanced stages of negotiations with six COVID-19 vaccine developers as it eyes to close deals for 148 million doses, National Policy Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. said on Wednesday.
During a Laging Handa public briefing, Galvez said the government has been negotiating with various pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca, Novavax, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Sinovac, and Gamaleya Institute.
“We hope to close the deal with these companies this month,” said Galvez.
Galvez added the government expects to secure some 148 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, once the ongoing negotiations push through with these companies.
Aside from government efforts on the bilateral negotiations, Galvez said the country “stands to receive fully-subsidized doses” for the 20 percent of the country’s population which corresponds to 22 million Filipinos, through the Covax facility.
“This is a global initiative aimed at working with vaccine manufacturers to provide countries worldwide with equitable access to safe and effective vaccines,” he said.
“Based on our current negotiations, we will be able to purchase to at least 148 million doses from more or less seven manufacturers, however, it will be dependent on the global supply,” he continued.
Galvez, meanwhile, said rich countries have already procured 80 percent of the global supply of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Philippines and Colombia will be the first two countries to take part in the World Health Organization Solidarity vaccine trials, Galvez added.
He said they are targeting 15,000 volunteers from Metro Manila.
WHO Western Pacific coordinator Dr. Socorro Escalante said the trial is expected to begin within the month.
Escalante, however, declined to identify what vaccine products would be tested in the Philippines.
“We cannot identify now because we are waiting for the headquarters to publish the list of vaccines that will be part,” she said.
Escalante said the WHO Solidarity trials in the Philippines will inoculate “adult volunteers and healthy individuals”.
The Philippines was among the first countries selected for the initiative after passing the criteria set by the UN organization, she added.
“One of the most important criteria is where the transmission of the virus is ongoing that’s why the Philippines and Colombia were first selected in the applicants,” she said.
In other developments:
* Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, chairman of the committee on ways and means “to commit to a timeline and grand strategy for vaccine procurement, distribution, and rollout, to avoid confusion among the general public.
* An opposition lawmaker on Wednesday sought a congressional inquiry into the status of the government’s COVID-19 vaccination program. In House Resolution 1455, Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo, at the same time, appealed to the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases to ensure “cost-effective distribution and sufficient logistical equipment and capacity building” for the implementation of the program.
* The government, through the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), vowed to increase engagement with the public and boost trust in vaccines, as the national vaccination program looms in the country. With PNA