TAGUIG CITY - The Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Science and Technology (DOST) announced their commitment to fund and support the Philippines’ participation in the World Health Organization (WHO) Solidarity Vaccine Trial as part of the country’s efforts to join the global action in developing a vaccine against COVID-19.

The Solidarity Vaccine Trial will ensure prompt, efficient, and reliable evaluation of the safety and efficacy of the many SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates currently being developed worldwide. To date, over 100 countries have expressed interest to participate in this large-scale vaccine trial.

The Philippines’ participation in the trial was approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) as recommended by the sub-Technical Working Group (TWG) on Vaccine Development led by DOST.

“We are in close collaboration with WHO to intensify our preparations for the Solidarity Vaccine Trial, including the identification of trial sites in the country. In addition, we are continuously monitoring several vaccine candidates with the technical help from the Vaccine Expert Panel,” said Usec. Rowena Cristina Guevara, Chair of the Sub-TWG on Vaccine Development and DOST Undersecretary for Research and Development.