MANILA, Philippines — There is no favoritism being exercised by the government in the procurement of vaccines for the coronavirus disease 2019, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Thursday. In an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel, Duque said that the procurement for the vaccines and even the conduct of clinical trials in the country are going through the proper process for approval. FEATURED STORIESDuque added that ethical issues on the vaccines are also being deliberated by the country’s Single Joint Ethics Review Board. Dr. Anthony Leachon, health reform advocate and former adviser to the National Task Force against COVID-19, earlier questioned the government’s plan to purchase 25 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech even if it has yet to show enough safety and efficacy data. Malacañang, however, denied it was favoring the more expensive CoronaVac, made by Sinovac, over other vaccine candidates.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer December 17, 2020 07:07 UTC