PH Homegrown COVID-19 Vaccine: Within reach?

 by John Kenneth Tria | Allosyndesis

“Baliw na baliw kayo sa research. Aanhin niyo ba yung research? Ako matalino akong tao pero hindi ko maintindihan yung research niyo, lalo na yung farmer. Gusto ba ng farmer yung research? Hindi ba gusto nila tulungan niyo sila? Bakit ba lahat ng budget niyo research?”

(You are all crazy for research. What will you do with that research? I’m a smart person but I do not understand (the purpose of) your research, especially the farmers. Do the farmers want research? Don’t they want your help? Why do you want all your budget to go to research?)

-Cynthia Villar on the budget proposal 

of National Corn Program for 2020 

Perhaps, Filipinos would remember these statements from Cynthia Villar back in 2019 after criticizing the budget proposal of the National Corn Program under the Department of Agriculture. Sure enough, the scientific community was irked and enraged by such words from a senator who was supposed to realize the importance of research to the country’s development. In fact, the issue of scientific research in the country became more apparent during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of October 24, the health department recorded 5,279 new cases, with 7,312 recovered cases, and 208 deaths, making the total tally of 60,957 active cases, 2,654,173 recoveries, and 41,793 deaths.. Around 83.6% of positive cases were mild and asymptomatic. These numbers show that COVID-19 still exists and the number of cases recorded every day is still alarming. It has been more than a year since the virus arrived in the country, and unlike other countries, the situation has not improved significantly.

The government’s pandemic response has been focused on implementing different kinds of lockdown measures with varying degrees of restrictions and isolation of infected individuals. The Philippines has also imported and received donations of vaccines from different countries. The healthcare sector probably took the huge blow from the incompetence of officials sitting at the higher seats as the health workers are pushed to their limits and hospital beds become filled. The country’s response to the pandemic were mostly band-aid solutions and has not been sustainable as we are still dependent on other countries. Scientists from around the world have been working hard to create a safe and efficacious vaccine that can combat the present variants of the virus. Currently there are three main approaches in the creation of vaccines which include the whole microbe approach, the subunit approach, and the genetic approach (nucleic acid vaccines).

Vaccine Development Around the World

It is indeed remarkable that COVID-19 vaccines were developed at such a fast pace due to works done by previous scientists on SARS and the accelerated development timeline. as it often took numerous years to develop due to its arduous process. However, it is important to note that the vaccines being rolled out globally today are still undergoing clinical trials and only for emergency use. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of October 22, 2021, there are 128 vaccines in clinical development and 194 vaccines that are in pre-clinical development. Different platforms are being used by clinical phase candidates, which include protein subunit, viral vector (non-replicating), DNA, inactivated virus, RNA, viral vector (replicating), virus like particle, VVr + antigen presenting cell, live attenuated virus, VVnr + antigen presenting cell, and bacterial antigen-spore expression vector. Among these, protein subunit, non-replicating viral vectors, and DNA platforms are mostly developed at 35%, 14%, and 11%, respectively. Several vaccines are already undergoing or on its way to phase 4 of their clinical trials, which include Moderna (USA), AstraZeneca (UK), Pfizer/BioNTech (Germany), Sinovac (China), Ad5-nCoV (China), BBIBP-CorV (China), Janssen/Johnson& Johnson (USA), Moderna’s mRNA-1273 (USA), and Sinopharm/WIBP vaccine (China).

Last July, Cuba became the first Latin American country to develop their own COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine Abdala had an efficacy of 92% after three doses. They are also in the process of developing other vaccines such as Soberana 1, Soberana 2, Soberana Plus, and Mambisa. During the pandemic, Cuba has been suffering its worst food and medicine shortage since the collapse of the Soviet Union that ignited mass protests. Although their testing, tracing, and isolating (Tetris) program spearheaded by doctors has been successful in containing the virus, their system proved to be not enough to control the virus as their cases rose again after reopening their borders last November 2020. Everything went out of control and the public health issue was compounded by economic and political crises. Cuba bet on its biotechnology sector and supported their scientists to develop vaccines and become self-sufficient. Amidst the controversies of its safety due to its release even without being published in a scientific journal, Abdala serves as hope for Cuba to control the pandemic and relieve one source of public frustration.

Recently in August, another country has successfully developed their first domestic COVID-19 vaccine. Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen put her faith in her country’s vaccination program and did not get vaccinated prior to other brands. Instead, she received the vaccine from the Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp. after its approval in a hospital in central Taipei. Similar to Cuba, Medigen also faced controversies regarding their immediate release of the vaccine as the emergency use authorization was granted even without results from a phase III clinical trial on safety and efficacy needed for full approval. However, Taiwan was facing its first major rise in COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. They wanted to control it immediately to combat local transmission before it got out of control. Hence, they wanted to have their citizens vaccinated quickly, but still the vaccination rates remained low due to lack of supply. 

Perhaps the situation of the Philippines has some similarities with Cuba as the country is also facing public health, political, and economic issues leading to public unrest. The Department of Health itself has not been able to respond well and efficiently use its budget to contain the virus. There have been recent revelations about corruption and mishandling of funds that are currently being investigated by the Senate. The country is focused on procuring vaccines and accepting donations from other countries rather than producing their own. There have been several surges of cases and different kinds of lockdowns, which further worsened the plight of the people. The health sector has pleaded to implement a strict enhanced community quarantine as health professionals could not handle the volume of patients anymore. In addition, millions of Filipinos have lost their jobs during the pandemic and the prices of commodities keeps getting higher. Hence, many Filipinos are already disappointed with the state of the country as it has been more than a year and the situation has not improved at all. Vaccines have become an imperative requirement to slowly go back to normal as offices require their employees to get a shot. This then leads to the question, can the Philippines also develop its own vaccine and are we ready?

Challenges in Starting Vaccine Development in the Philippines

Recognizing the need for the Philippines to become self-sufficient as other countries start to develop their own vaccines, President Duterte offered a ₱50 million reward to any Filipino who can create a vaccine against COVID-19. Obviously, this statement is as ignorant as it can be. As mentioned, developing a vaccine is easier said than done. Aside from the trials, there are numerous factors that need to be considered. One of the factors that immediately comes to mind is the funding needed, which would most likely amount to billions. The equipment and facilities itself are already expensive given that the trials are arduous and may take a long time. The loans of the Philippines for pandemic response have already amounted to over $7.76 billion or around Php 388 billion according to the country’s finance department. However, much of the budget has gone to the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Emergency Subsidy Program. Due to the numerous lockdowns implemented, many Filipinos cannot work, so cash aids and goods are being provided by the government for the people to survive. Hence, not much funding has been given to research and development of the country which makes it difficult to initiate vaccine development efforts immediately unlike other countries.

In terms of facilities and equipment, there are no existing facilities where vaccines can be developed. There may be few equipment in some facilities but not all needed are present, in addition to the fact that it needs to have a biosafety level 3 and 4. Furthermore, vaccine manufacturing is a different story as the country also does not have facilities for this. There are eight firms that are eyeing local vaccine manufacturing in the Philippines. Five of these are for COVID-19, two are for non-COVID but can possibly develop COVID-19 vaccines later, and the other one is not yet sure. The government would then need to negotiate and form partnerships with these firms in the future should they proceed, unless the government allot funds for vaccine manufacture.

  In terms of experts, the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) has been building collaboration opportunities with international partners through participation in clinical trials of the most advanced vaccine candidates. They have formed a panel of experts on vaccine research and development composed of scientists with different specialties related to vaccine development. Going back to the question of the capacity and readiness of the Philippines to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, it can be said that the country can develop its own local vaccine given the facilities and equipment available, as well as the pool of experts who can perform the studies. However, the country is not yet ready due to the compounding issues that make it difficult to allot enough budget for vaccine research. 

Philippines on development of local COVID-19 Vaccine

Given the current situation in the country, there are already efforts by the government and independent groups to develop the first vaccine in the Philippines. DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said that they are already working to establish the Virology Science and Technology Institute of the Philippines (VIP) and are already working with various government agencies such as the Department of Public Works and Highways for the design and the Department of Trade and Industry for vaccine production. It will be located at New Clark Economic Zone in Capas, Tarlac and expected to rise in 2023 or 2024. Amidst its ongoing construction, the virology institute can still partially operate through the Industrial Technology Development Institute. 

It will be equipped with a greenhouse for plant and animal virus research. Moreover, it will also have Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2), Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3), and Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4). Currently, DOST has partnered with Baylor College of Medicine in the United States, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), and St. Luke’s Medical Center in implementing six projects. These projects will focus on animal, plant, and human virology as well as research areas of therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccines with initially allocated funds of ₱284 million. However, the bill for VIP still needs to be passed to secure the funding for the said facility, research and development, and human resources.

  An associate at the OCTA research team has also disclosed that they are already working on an oral COVID-19 vaccine. They are engineering a human probiotic yeast to express a fragment of SARS-CoV 2, which can be used to induce immune response. They are hoping to return in the Pphilippines with the yeast and perform animal testing in University of Santo Tomas. If it works out, they will then ask for permission to do the clinical trials in the Philippines. They are planning to make the vaccine an inexpensive alternative from already widely distributed vaccines. 

It is indeed great news that there are already developments in vaccine development in the country after more than a year of the pandemic. However, this is relatively slow compared to other countries as the facilities needed are still being constructed, while those working independently still need to perform their experiments overseas. The virus will continue to spread and mutate, hence, it is a race against time to develop a vaccine which could combat the variants that newly arise. The researches conducted by scientists will also not immediately produce results and if ever there are, these are not guaranteed to be effective. The clinical trials and approval may also take a long time. Hence, it can be said that the Philippines still has a long way to go in becoming self-dependent in vaccine development, but, it does not mean that the situation is hopeless. Proper governance and support in research and development are imperative so that someday it would be possible to return things to what it was like before.