The Community Pharmacists Association of the Philippines Negros Occidental Chapter (CPAP Negros) is calling on local government units (LGUs), drugstore owners, distributors, pharmacies, and pharmacists not to acquire vaccines from Chinese state-owned drugmaker China National Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. (Sinopharm) for the protection and safety of the public.
John Paul Domasian, president of CPAP Negros and assistant professor of the College of Health and Allied Professions in Colegio San Agustin Bacolod, in a statement sent to DIGICAST NEGROS, said the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine is unregistered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as he called on the public to be vigilant against this “smuggled vaccine and illegal drugs.”
The Chinese-owned pharmaceutical firm recently made headlines in the country after it was revealed that members of the Presidential Security Group illegally used its vaccines.
The Department of Science and Technology, in an earlier statement, said Sinopharm reached out to them for collaboration, including the proposal that the Philippines should shoulder the costs of its vaccine’s clinical trial in the country.
DOST said it responded to the Chinese firm that the country only funds trials under the World Health Organization’s Solidarity Trial. However, Sinopharm did not respond to its reply.
For Domasian, the Republic Act No. 9711, or the Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009, stressed that “the manufacture, importation, exportation, sale, offering for sale, distribution, transfer, non-consumer use, promotion, advertising, or sponsorship of any health product without the proper authorization from the FDA is prohibited.”
He pointed out that the law stated that “all biologic products that are to be used for immunization, both private and government, shall be first registered at the BFAD, now FDA.”
“Hence, the law of the land must be followed by the government and the government should be the model of the full implementation of the law,” he stressed.
He added, “the vaccination of unregistered products to the public affects the credibility of the future vaccination for the COVID-19 and the succeeding vaccination programs of the government.”*