Philippines approves Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine

The Philippines has cleared Sinopharm Group Co. Ltd.’s coronavirus vaccine, adding to the more than 15 million doses expected to arrive in the coming weeks as the nation aims to accelerate inoculation and revive the economy.

Sinopharm was approved for emergency use so the government can receive the state-owned company’s vaccine donations, Food and Drug Administration head Eric Domingo said on Monday evening at a weekly briefing. The Philippines has inoculated about 6 million, of which 1.5 million have received their second dose, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez said.

The nation has received 9.3 million doses of vaccines and is expecting 11 million to arrive this month including 4.5 million from Sinovac Biotech Ltd., 2.28 million from Pfizer Inc. and 2 million from AstraZeneca Plc through Covax facility and 250,000 from Moderna Inc, Galvez said. More than 5 million doses could come in July and as much as 17 million in August, he said.

The Philippines has started vaccinating about 35 million workers and is monitoring how other countries will inoculate their young population as guidance for about 29 million Filipinos in that age group, according to Galvez. The economy, which suffered a record contraction in 2020 after implementing one of the world’s longest lockdowns, is counting on vaccines to aid its rebound. It had to revert to the strictest movement curbs for 2 weeks starting late March as infections rose.

President Rodrigo Duterte, at the Monday briefing, urged Filipinos to make sure they’re taking the second dose of the vaccines after data showed that about half of those who had their first shot didn’t come back for the second one. — Bloomberg