Juan Leandro Maglonzo 1/22/21

12 - Alcala Ma’am
Medina
EAPP Position Paper

Why choosing Sinovac as the Philippines’ means of immunization for

the Filipino people is a very bad idea.

“Decades of experiments and countless sleepless nights by tens of thousands of

scientists who spent hours and hours toiling at the bench form the bedrock of the
vaccines that are now being deployed around the world. A lot of great science went
into these vaccines and a lot of great scientists were needed to generate that great
science.” says Fr. Nicanor Austriaco O.P, a Filipino-American molecular biologist,
Catholic priest and an international college professor. Throughout history, numerous
diseases have plagued humanity where hundreds, thousands, even millions have died.
The discovery of vaccines paved the way to the improvement of preventive
healthcare, where we can alleviate the effects of diseases from taking more lives by
the usage of vaccines, affecting environmental changes, lifestyle choices and more.
The talk about vaccines could have never been more relevant especially with the
Covid-19 Pandemic happening today. Different pharmaceuticals and universities
around the world have worked on vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 at a fast,
amazing, and innovative rate. Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Sinovac, and Pfizer
are the companies that the public looks forward to. Unfortunately, not all of this
vaccines are feasible for mass usage to attain immunization of a population because
there are some vaccines that barely passed the standard efficacy threshold of 50% set
by the World Health Organization. One of this vaccines is the Chinese vaccine called
CoronaVac made by Sinovac Pharmaceuticals. It also happened that Sinovac is the
vaccine chosen by the Philippine government as the means of immunization for the
Filipino people. In this case, if it happens, it might as well be one of the biggest
mistakes that the Philippine government will about to do. But you may ask, why? I’ll
explain it here as much as I can.
First things first, what is a vaccine? A vaccine is a biological preparation that
contains either a weakened or killed forms of a microorganism that can bring
disease. When it enters the human body, it triggers an immune response, causing
the body to neutralize that microorganism which in turn can be “remembered” by
the immune system. So the next time that the real “virus” enters the body, the
immune system remembers how to get rid of that virus. Vaccines usually takes 5-
10 years for certified usage since it needs to go through an arduous process to
prove that it is safe to use towards people. This was the problem when the Covid-
19 pandemic came to be. The SARS-CoV-2 is a new and highly contagious virus.
This is due to the presence of a spike protein that binds 10 times stronger than the
regular SARS, causing high chance of infectivity. The SARS-CoV-2 also has the
ability to activate itself in the presence of an enzyme called Furin. This enyzme is
present in various human organs like the liver, lungs, and small intestines. Since
this enzyme is almost apparent to every human tissue, it can attack several
organs, at the same time. This makes the SARS-CoV-2 highly contagious and
fatal to people with weakened immune response or older people.

Thankfully, like what Fr. Austriaco said in the beginning, the creation of the
vaccine for the Covid-19 disease is not something that started from scratch.
Decades of research and study have been conducted that laid out the foundation
for the understanding of various diseases, including the family that the SARS-
CoV-2 belongs to, the coronovirus. Also the continuous funding, volunteers that
participated in the clinical trials, and the huge workforce that went into the
research development for the vaccines were outstanding since every single
country in the world are in desperate need for the “cure”.

So with that said, why is the Chinese vaccine made by Sinovac, the worst
pick for the immunization of the Filipino people? Every vaccine needs to go to a
phase called “Clinical Trials” where the vaccine is tested for its efficacy and
expected side effects towards real people. With the release of the results from the
clinical trials of Sinovac, the results were not as good to say the least. Brazil, a
country that volunteered for the clinical trials of the vaccine, had fluctuating
results. Back in October, they announced that the vaccine is the safest out of the 5
candidate vaccines they were testing and they speculated that the vaccine has
over 50% efficacy. In January 7, 2021, Brazil announced that the vaccine has
78% efficacy which seems promising enough, but this results are only from a
subgroup of volunteers in the trials, not the overall efficacy. Then at January 13,
the vaccine has only has 50.4% overall efficacy throughout the trial period.
Turkey has also participated for the clinical trials of the vaccine and reported a
91% efficacy.

I must say first, that yes, Sinovac has produced a vaccine that is atleast safe
to use and can possibly help ease the further spread of the virus. The efficacy of
the vaccine might go even higher if it was tested in different groups like old
people, health workers, adults, and more. Yet in my opinion, I will purchase the
vaccine that shows the safest and most efficient results, and Sinovac is not one of
them. Sinovac, unlike the vaccines made by Moderna and Astrazeneca, has not
utilized the new technology used by both companies called mRNA vaccine. This
type of vaccine in simpler terms only uses the genetic information about the spike
protein, the one that takes hold of the human cell, in the vaccine. This means that
it is easier to produce since you do not have to culture more virus to weaken for it
to be used in the vaccine, rather you just need the “information” about the spike
protein in the SARS-CoV-2. This shows the safest and it is also innovative
because it is the first time that a mRNA vaccine has been produced. Still, Sinovac
has an upside, it can be easily stored without the need of special storage
equipment, where both Moderna and Astrazeneca needs to be stored in near
freezing temperatures for it to be safely transferred.

Lastly, there is also the problem of possible corruption for the purchase of
Sinovac vaccines. The price of the vaccine here in the Philippines were around
3,000-1,800php initially. This raised suspicion because in countries like India,
Indonesia, and Thailand, the vaccines were only at priced at 683Php and 240php
per dose. Sen. Ping Lacson pointed this out saying
“I could not understand for the life of me why we are being kept in the dark when
it comes to our price negotiations with Sinovac, while our neighboring countries
cannot be more transparent about it.” The lack of transparency about the price of
the vaccine is problematic since the money they will use to purchase the vaccines
came from the Filipino people. Purchasing the vaccine is not something that can
be taken easily obviously because this is the key in making the people immune
 and to prevent further disease to us people. If something is discovered about the
initial price being set because it was connected to personal financial gain to a
group of people, that will not only be one of the biggest mistake made in this
pandemic, but also the most shameful and disgraceful act committed against
science and people. Because using the vaccines as a way of gaining money more
than it should be is unacceptable especially with the numerous records of
corruptions in the Philippines.

To wrap it all up, vaccines are integral in preventing further outbreaks and
diseases to our society in the future. Sinovac has made a vaccine that is safe to
use though it only needs more testing and time for it to do better. Yet if we are
aiming for mass immunization of the Filipino people right now, we should not
spend millions of pesos towards a vaccine that few countries like Brazil has
presented data that shows 50/50 chance of immunity against the virus. Especially
at this trying times, personal and selfish gains should be put aside as it always
should be. Governments should be honest and transparent towards the safety of
the people. Thousands of scientists, countless of hours, and a tremendous amount
of hard work went into making this vaccines that can help us live a close, safe,
and happy life in the following years ahead of us.

References:
China's Sinovac defends Covid vaccine after disappointing Brazil data (cnbc.com)

China's Sinovac vaccine reportedly 50.4% effective in Brazilian trial (cnbc.com)

Sinovac vaccine’s 50% efficacy is acceptable—DOST | Inquirer News

Sinovac: 'Serious adverse event' that led Brazil to suspend vaccine trial has 'no
relation' to tests - CNN

Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine has 91% efficacy, Turkey says - Nikkei Asia

How the Sinovac Covid-19 Vaccine Works - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

‘We are kept in the dark’: Lacson asks for transparency in Sinovac price nego
(cnnphilippines.com)

Difference Between Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 Vaccines | Health.com

Sinovac 'provided very good pricing to the Philippines,' exec says | Philstar.com