MANILA, Philippines — Thirteen hospitals will be involved in the solidarity trials for a potential COVID-19 vaccine in the country which will be conducted this year, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said Tuesday.
“In his weekly department update and report to the nation, the Department of Science and Technology secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña revealed that the COVID-19 Interagency Task Force (IATF) has accepted DOST’s recommendation for zoning on the solidarity trials for the vaccine candidates against COVID-19 that will be conducted this year,” read the agency’s statement.
Dela Peña identified the 13 health facilities as Philippine General Hospital; Manila Doctors Hospital; San Lazaro Hospital; Lung Center of the Philippines; St. Luke’s Medical Center- Quezon City; Research Institute for Tropical Medicine; Makati Medical Center; The Medical City; St. Luke’s Medical Center–Bonifacio Global City in Taguig; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center; Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City; De La Salle Health Sciences Institute in Cavite; and Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City.
The World Health Organization (WHO) will start the solidarity trials this October which is expected to be finished by the second quarter of 2021, Dela Peña said.
The DOST chief also confirmed that the Philippines is in agreement with “five COVID- 19 vaccine developers that will enable clinical trial data sharing.”
READ: DOST tags 5 hospitals as sites for trials of potential COVID-19 vaccines