June 15, 2023
Dear Ryan Cuartero,
Greetings!
Thank you for your request dated Jun 07, 2023 03:49:25 AM under Executive Order No. 2 (s. 2016) on Freedom of Information in the Executive Branch.
Your Request
You asked for Vaccine Passports and its clinical trials.
Response to Request
Your FOI request is approved.
Safety and Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccines on the Prevention of Severe COVID-19 and Hospitalizations
All COVID-19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use listing have undergone randomized clinical trials to test its quality, safety and efficacy. To be approved, vaccines are required to have a high efficacy rate of 50% or above. Analyses of results from clinical trials and recommendations are made by an external panel of experts convened by WHO.
Further, all of the approved COVID-19 vaccines have been carefully tested and continue to be monitored. Like all vaccines, COVID-19 vaccines go through a rigorous, multi-stage testing process, including extensive clinical trials that involve tens of thousands of people. These trials are specifically designed to identify any safety concerns. Please see the link for reference, https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-vaccines-safety
Some individuals may or may not experience side effects following COVID-19 vaccination. Mild to moderate side effects may include pain at injection site, fever, headache, myalgia and fatigue which should go away within a few days; while adverse events are rare or or can be caused by a coincidental event not related to the vaccine. Thus, the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination outweigh the known and potential risks.
Concerned officials and authorities in individual countries decide the applicability of these vaccines for national use and the development of its corresponding guidelines in accordance with the WHO recommendations.
According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC), COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. These vaccines were evaluated in tens of thousands of participants in clinical trials. The vaccines met the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality needed to support emergency use authorization (EUA).
In the Philippines, please be informed that policies on COVID-19 vaccination are also formulated based on the recommendation of independent bodies of experts on COVID-19 such as the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) on Immunization, Technical Advisory Group (TAG). Further, Health experts from the Vaccine Expert Panel, Single Joint Review Ethics Board, Health Technology Assessment Council, and Philippine Food and Drug Administration evaluate all COVID-19 vaccine candidates to provide recommendations on safe and effective vaccination.
The Philippine COVID-19 Living Clinical Practice Guidelines has strongly recommended the use of vaccines and its importance in providing protection against the COVID-19 infection. This may be accessed through this link: http://bit.ly/PSMIDLCPG.
Those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 are considered to have protection against the virus, and are observed to less likely develop severe and critical symptoms of COVID-19. Thus, while each individual is not required or mandated to get vaccinated, we highly recommend that all eligible individuals get their primary doses and booster shots.
For further queries and concerns, you may contact us via email at
[email protected].
Thank you for your continued support.
Your right to request a review
If you are unhappy with this response to your FOI request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response by writing to the Central Appeals and Review Committee, at
[email protected]. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made within 15 calendar days from the date when you received this letter. We will complete the review and tell you the result within 30 calendar days from the date when we receive your review request.
If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Office of the President under Administrative Order No. 22 (s. 2011).
Thank you.
Respectfully,
FOI Decision Maker
FOI Receiving Officer
