The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the emergency use authority (EUA) application of Pfizer-BioNTech for its Coronavirus disease (Covid) vaccine.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the first Covid vaccine granted with EUA in the country.
FDA director-general Eric Domingo confirmed on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021, that the agency approved the EUA application of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, a CNN Philippines report says.
An EUA is needed to legally distribute the said vaccine in the country, Domingo revealed.
Pfizer-BioNTech already secured EUA in the United Kingdom (UK) and in United States (US) and other countries. The vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech is also included in the list of the World Health Organization (WHO) recommender for emergency use.
Moreover, the vaccine is 95% percent effective in preventing infections after a person receives two (2) shots of the vaccine, the same report bares.
According to vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., the country may get th40 million doses from the drug manufacturer based in the United States.
Unlike other vaccine brands, the vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech’s needs to be stored in an ultra-cold freezer capable of maintaining a temperatures of minus 70’degrees Celsius. This kind of freezer is not widely available nationwide.
Meanwhile, Bohol provincial administrator Kathyrin Pioquinto said that Bohol has no ultra-cold freezers which can store the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.