A Sinovac BioTech official said on Wednesday that the COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered in the Philippines "in days."

In a televised press briefing, Sinovac general manager Helen Yang said they are finalizing relase of the vaccine by the Chinese Customs.

This was after the Philippine Food and Drug Administration granted the emergency use authorization for Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine last Monday.

"So, there are some procedures we are working very closely with our Customs colleagues right now. So, hopefully we can deliver the vaccine in days," Yang said.

Asked how long would it take for the Chinese side to process and deliver the vaccine, she said, "Normally a week actually, but we are trying to see whether we can make it shorter. But I cannot assure you because there are some procedures that need to be done online and there are some checkings for the goods, those are the policies for Customs."

She said 600,000 doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered first in the country.

While the FDA has approved the EUA for Sinovac vaccine, it also advised that the drug should be administered to 18-59 years old healthy individuals and not to use it to health workers due to low efficacy rate of 50.3 percent, although still within the standard of the World Health Organization.

Yang insisted that Sinovac vaccine is "effective," noting that 12 countries have been using their brand and by the end of the month, there would be 15 countries.

"But overall, I think, no matter from health care workers or from the ordinary population, the inactivated vaccine has already proved very safe because not only the trial, we also have provided the vaccine in China and outside of China," she said.

"There have already been over ten million or even twenty million people have already used the vaccine and the safety profile has been showing very well. And also, we are expecting that the people working in health care facilities who can be protected and because those are the people we needed for the society to treat a patient in order to maintain a regular norm of our whole society," Yang explained.

She said the side effect of the Sinovac vaccine is similar to other brands, such as muscle pain which can go away after a day.

Yang assured there has not been any fatal impact relating to the use of Sinovac vaccine.

Meanwhile, in the same press briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque clarified that while FDA recommended not to use Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to health workers, it does not mean it is prohibited.

He said if any health worker would want to be inoculated by Sinovac vaccine for his or her protection, the government will allow the person to get the injection.

Roque also said President Rodrigo Duterte personally wants to welcome the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine when it arrives in the country.

He said Duterte wants to express his appreciation to China for providing vaccine to the Philippines.

The initial batch of 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine are donated by China. Of the total doses, 100,000 would go to the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Celerina Monte/DMS