FDA’s advice on Sinovac a case of self-contradiction – lawmaker

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had issued an Emergency Use Authorization to China-made vaccine Sinovac yet it also advised against administering it to senior citizens and health frontliners.

These contradicting statements had cast doubts on the efficacy of the vaccine, said House Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano.

This development only indicated that the EUA issued to Sinovac was half-baked, the Abang Lingkod partylist solon stressed, as he urged FDA to issue a clarificatory statement soonest.

The minority leader scored the agency for allegedly putting the image of Sinovac vaccine in a bad light which cast doubts on its efficacy.

“It’s very complicated because according to FDA director general Eric Domingo, the vaccine is 91% effective in Turkey, 65.3% in Indonesia but it registered only 50.4 efficacy among medical frontliners in Brazil,” the minority leader said, adding that regardless of the conflicting results of clinical trials, the fact remains that FDA had issued an EUA to Sinovac.

“Rather than shed light on the use of the vaccine, the FDA has further eroded public trust and confidence in inoculation,” he added.

Unfortunately, the FDA advice is not helping the government’s mass vaccination program, Paduano lamented.