Manila Standard - 2021 January 20 - Wednesday

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Sinovac cleared for test trials FDA okays two other drug firms, full rollout hinges on pilot run results By Willie Casas, Macon Ramos-Araneta, and Vito Barcelo

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HE Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the application of Chinese drug manufacturer Sinovac to conduct clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines. In a press briefing Tuesday, FDA director general Eric Domingo said all of the companies that applied for clinical trials, including Sinovac, have been approved. These include Janssen of Johnson & Johnson, a US firm, and Clover Biopharmaceuticals, another Chinese company. In October 2020, the Department of Science and Technology’s Vaccine Expert Panel cleared Sinovac for clinical trials, elevating the process to the Ethics Board and the FDA. At the same briefing, Domingo said China’s donation of 500,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine would not affect the FDA’s assessment of vaccine candidates from Chinese drug companies. The FDA is evaluating the applications of pharmaceutical firms for clinical trial and emergency use authority (EUA) for their respective COVID-19 vaccine products. During a visit to Manila over the weekend, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing intends to donate half a million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to the Philippines. Senator Francis Pangilinan said while he appreciated the gesture, the donation should not pressure the FDA and the Health Technology Assessment Council to approve the use of Chinese vaccines. Next page

VOL. XXXIV • NO. 316 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P18 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2021 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Military to scrap pact with other schools after UP THE Department of National Defense is looking at scrapping the pacts it forged with other schools similar to its recently terminated agreement with the University of the Philippines. "We are looking into other similar agreements to terminate them as well," Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in response to a query about agreements with schools where the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army (CPPNPA) has reportedly infiltrated and recruited students. Lorenzana said the department Next page

‘DEFEND UP.’ Students of the University of the Philippines hold a protest rally inside the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City to denounce the Defense department’s termination of the 1989 UP-DND accord, which bans the presence of police and military in the UP campus without prior notice. Manny Palmero

Du30 orders Galvez to bare vax deals to Sotto By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rey E. Requejo

vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. to disclose to Senate President Vicente Sotto III the details of the government's deals with COVID-19 vaccine makers. FOR the sake of transparency, President Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong" Rodrigo Duterte has ordered Go, Duterte's former special

assistant and longtime confidante, made the disclosure on Tuesday. Asked if Galvez would do so in an executive session with Sotto, Go, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Next page

• Duterte ready to take first jab • More minors may venture out By Vito Barcelo, Othel V. Campos and Willie Casas PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is willing to take the vaccine jab once it is available but his vaccination will not be held in public as part of the government’s mass vaccination program and to convince the people of the safety of the vaccines, Malacanang said Tuesday. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the President preferred to follow the British monarchs who were vaccinated in private.

He said Duterte had agreed to receive the first shots of COVID-19 vaccine in the Philippines to inspire public confidence was completely up to him. “I will take the vaccine as soon as it is available’ because he said he needs to get vaccinated,” Roque said during a televised press briefing. “The President does not have to be shown in public. He is taking the route of the British sovereign because of the decision of Queen Elizabeth and her husband to keep their vaccination in private,” he said. Next page

READY FOR BIDEN. The "Field of Flags" is illuminated on the National Mall as the US Capitol Building is prepared for the inauguration ceremonies for Presidentelect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Monday in Washington, DC. Approximately 191,500 US flags will cover part of the National Mall and will represent the American people who are unable to travel to the capital for the inauguration. AFP

Biden sets unity as inaugural tone WASHINGTON—On the cusp of becoming president, Joe Biden pressed Monday for unity, while President Donald Trump remained secluded in the White House at the center of a capital inundated with troops and security barriers. Biden marked the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday with a trip from his home in Delaware to pack food bags for charity in Philadelphia -- a gesture symbolizing his

call for Americans to come together after four divisive years. "Service is a fitting way to start to heal, unite, and rebuild this country we love," Biden said in a video marking the occasion. But the 78-year-old Democrat's fervent appeals for optimism and healing— which are also set to dominate Next page

Trump mum as clock ticks down at WH FROM 45TH TO 46TH. This graphic shows key points of Donald Trump's presidency and Joe Biden's main agenda in his first 100 days as US president. AFP

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump began his final full day in the White House Tuesday with a long list of possible pardons to dish out before snubbing his successor Joe Biden's inauguration and leaving for Florida.

On Wednesday at noon, Biden will be sworn in and the Trump presidency will end, turning the page on some of the most disruptive, divisive years the United States has seen since the 1960s. Next page

COVID-19 PH AT A GLANCE

(AS OF 4 PM JAN. 19)

504,084 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES

1,357 27,857 NEW

ACTIVE

9,978

69

466,249

324

DEATHS

RECOVERIES

NEW

NEW

S. African variant more contagious, not more deadly A NEW variant of the coronavirus first identified in South Africa is more contagious than earlier versions, experts said on Tuesday, but there is no evidence that it is more deadly. The new variant is 50 percent more contagious, said epidemiologist Professor Salim Abdool Karim, co-chair of the South African health ministry's scientific committee from Johannesburg. "There is no evidence the new COVID variant is more severe than the original variant," he added. The experts drew their conclusions about the variant—now the dominant strain in South Africa—from an analysis of data collected from the main infection clusters across the country. With more than 1.3 million people infected, South Africa has recorded more cases than any other country on the continent and has also suffered more deaths, with 37,105 registered. The second wave of the virus has stretched South Africa's health system to its limits. Dr Waasila Jassat, another member of the expert panel, said that even though admissions were up, the death rate from the virus in hospitals had not changed from the first wave of the virus. It was the discovery by South African experts of the new variant—known as 510Y.V2—that convinced the authorities to introduce new restrictions in December to slow its spread. "The world has underestimated this virus," said another panel member, virologist Professor Alex Sigal, adding that it was evolving and adapting to humans. Next page


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