MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday warned that using COVID-19 vaccines without emergency use approval only undermine local regulators, after President Rodrigo Duterte was inoculated with Sinopharm last week. The Food and Drug Administration has cleared six vaccines, but Sinopharm has yet to be included in the list. Over radio DZXL, Robredo said using jabs without EUA could harm efforts by the FDA, whose experts are tasked to check that vaccines coming in to the country undergo rigorous assessment. "If we don't use vaccines with EUA, then it is as if the FDA has no purpose, right?" In January, Robredo said the smuggled vaccines could hurt efforts to build public trust on the jabs as she called for transparency on its investigation.

Source: Philippine Star May 09, 2021 08:03 UTC