PDu30, handang pondohan ang imbensyon ng oral COVID-19 vaccine

HANDA si Pangulong Rodrigo Roa Duterte na pondohan ang imbensiyon na oral COVID-19 vaccine ni Dr. & Rev. Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP, Professor of Biological Sciences.

Sa virtual press briefing ni Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, sinabi nito na kung makikita na epektibo at ligtas ang oral COVID-19 vaccine na imbensyon ni Fr. Austriaco ay tutulong sa ngayon ang Deartment of Science and Technology (DoST) para pondohan ang clinical trial para sa oral vaccine at ang clinical studies ay isasagawa ng mga nangungunang unibersidad.

” Well, I’m sure kung mari-recognize po talaga na epektibo at ligtas itong ating vaccine na dinivelop nila Fr. Austriaco eh mayroon pong ibibigay talagang prize ang ating Presidente dahil mayroon naman po siyang pinangako na prize para doon sa mga magkakaroon ng imbensyon na makakatulong sa laban natin sa COVID-19. Pero sa ngayon po ang matutulong ng gobyerno, ang DOST po, Fr. Austriaco, I’m sure you know already can fund a clinical trial for the oral vaccine that you have ‘no. We can even fund it using government money and the clinical studies would be conducted by leading universities ‘no,” ayon kay Sec. Roque.

At sa tanong naman kung batay sa mga naunang pahayag nito ay aabot lamang sa P35 ang halaga ng inyong yeast-based oral—vaccine laban sa Covid-19 ay sinabi ni “We have built the vaccine delivery system; I built it with my students in the United States. It took us 3 months. We are now assembling a scientific team here at UST to undertake the animal studies that we will need in order to apply for clinical trial permissions from the national government of the Philippines.”

Sa pagkakataong to aniya, ang animal trials ay tatagal ng ilang buwan at muli ay ilang buwan naman para sa clinical trials.

“So the earliest, probably it will be second generation vaccine, the middle of next year. But we do hope that it will be successful – only God knows at this time – and my goal is this vaccine is for the poor of the Philippines. So we would like to make it as cheap as possible,” anito.

“I have a vow of poverty myself; I do not have a salary so I’m doing this as my students will say – for God, for the Philippines and for UST,” dagdag na pahayag ni Fr. Austriaco.

Samantala, sinabi pa ni Fr. Austriaco na gumamit sila ng pribadong pondo para sa development ng oral vaccine sa Estados Unidos.

“In anticipation of doing that research here in the Philippines, we did not use any NIH funding for the development of this vaccine in the United States. So we used private funds and right now I am going to—I’m in conversations with UST to begin the process of patenting the oral vaccine here in the Philippines,” aniya pa rin. (Daris Jose)