Health Secretary Francisco Duque III has appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to give his go signal to the Food and Drug Administration to issue an emergency use authorization or EUA for COVID-19 vaccines that will enter the country.
An EUA gives the FDA authority to facilitate the availability of medical countermeasures during public health emergencies like the current COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are respectfully requesting that you consider the issuance of an executive order for the FDA to grant an emergency use authorization for the various vaccines that will enter the country and which applications are to be filed,” Duque told Duterte during their weekly meeting on the COVID-19 pandemic.
National Task Force Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Carlito Galvez also backed Duque’s request for an EUA to the FDA to speed up the acquisition and distribution of vaccines in the country.
“If we can move swiftly, we can be assured there will be 30-50 million doses for rollout next year,” Galvez said.
Duterte assured that the national government is working hard to address the health crisis in the country.
