MANILA – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday approved the use of Sinovac BioNTech’s coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine on senior citizens.
“After considering the recommendation of the experts and the current situation of high COVID-19 transmission and limited available vaccines, the FDA is allowing the use of Sinovac on senior citizens,” FDA chief Eric Domingo said.
He added that senior citizens’ vaccination “should be preceded by an evaluation of the person’s health status and exposure risk to assure that benefits of vaccination outweigh risks.”
FDA’s approval came after several local government units in Metro Manila postponed its vaccination of senior citizens due to lack of AstraZeneca’s vaccine.
According to Vaccine Development Expert Panel’s head Dr. Nina Gloriani on Wednesday morning, clinical trials done among senior citizens in Brazil (400) and China (422) showed mild to moderate side effects.
While Sinovac’s efficacy on elderly is lower due to low number of elderly participants in clinical trials, Gloriani said getting the Chinese-based vaccine provides more benefits than harm.
“We cannot wait for too long for other vaccines. I myself was injected with Sinovac, I am 67 and a senior citizen. I just felt slight side effects na nawala rin after two days,” she said./PN
