In a recent Viber chat with former Health Secretary Esperanza “Espie” Cabral, we both expressed concern over illegal COVID-19 vaccines preying on the vulnerable public, who are made to believe that the vaccine is already proven to be safe and effective.

Announcement of the availability of the vaccine is going around Viber chat groups, and the address given is a well-known medical clinic in Makati. It claims the vaccine has been given to more than 20,000 people. I’m not sure if this claim is true because based on published reports, the number is much less than this for all candidate vaccines, throwing serious doubts on the safety of the vaccines on clinical trials.

There are currently 11 Chinese vaccines that have entered clinical trials. Four of these are in advanced phase three trials, but none have been approved for mass market distribution.

The needed two doses of the vaccine are priced at P100,000, which is a huge rip-off, considering that in China, it’s supposed to be sold at $80 or roughly P4,000 per dose. But what can you expect from vultures who have no qualms about stripping their prey to the last strip of muscle?

The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines denied that China already sent vaccines for public use in the Philippines. Meanwhile, print and broadcast reports indicate that hundreds are queuing up somewhere in Eastern China to get themselves vaccinated.

People interviewed by the media in China have the impression that they’re signing up for a safe and effective vaccine. One of those interviewed wondered, though, why she was made to sign a waiver. Another didn’t seem to care because he needed the vaccine certificate to be able to travel to Europe, where he has some business interests.

Report to FDA

In a Viber message, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Eric Domingo said he sent a team to this medical condominium to investigate, but his team was not allowed inside the clinic. Of course, they have their Bill of Rights. But when they use it to protect their illegal activities, then there must be something wrong with the law, or the ones enforcing the law.

Domingo assured me that he won’t allow these scalawags to act with impunity. The medical condominium issued an announcement that there’s no COVID vaccine being administered at their place, but why prevent FDA agents from taking a look at their clinic if they have nothing to hide?

Those who may have received vaccination in these clinics may report this shenanigan to the FDA. They’ll be fulfilling their public duty if they do, so others may not be victimized anymore.

Taking advantage of a pandemic situation is a serious aggravating circumstance in our Revised Penal Code, and this is a good opportunity to show one and all—Filipinos and foreigners alike—that our FDA and our government are no pushover, and we deal with criminals harshly.

In Eastern China, news sources report that residents aged between 18 and 59 with “urgent needs” could get their Sinovac Biotech vaccine shots at designated clinics. They didn’t really define what “urgent needs” meant, but they have allegedly been giving it to groups such as medical workers, and those who need to travel.

The Chinese Embassy here issued a stern warning that there are no approved vaccines from China available here for an early rollout. It advised the public to be wary of vaccines reportedly being sold here.

Long-term adverse effects

We have already discussed in detail our serious objections to rushing to join the COVID-19 vaccine bandwagon. (Don’t buy that made-in-China COVID-19 vaccine—not yet; PDI, 07/28/20)

We know the government has that lofty intention of stemming the continuing tide of COVID-19 infection in the country by vaccinating the entire population. But this may not be a good idea if done before robust data can assure us that the risk of vaccination is definitely much less than its established benefits. As it is now, the risk-benefit balance is still not tilting clearly to either side. So, when still in doubt, it’s better not to get yourselves vaccinated.

While a vaccine may be said to be the silver bullet against the pandemic, it could have adverse effects in the long term, which may not show soon after its administration. That’s why it must undergo extensive clinical testing with long-term observation.One indication of the uncertainty over the desired effect of the vaccine is that whereas previously, scientists thought that one shot of the vaccine would be effective for lifetime immunity, now the prevailing recommendation is to give two doses, because one dose is not adequate.

Who knows, later on, they might recommend that it may be like the flu vaccine that has to be given yearly, or the pneumonia vaccine given every five years? That means more doses of the vaccine, and potentially more side effects because of the multiple doses.

So, as I stated in my previous columns on this issue, I will only support and endorse a thoroughly studied and clinically tried vaccine for COVID-19, not one where corners have been cut just to expedite mass use.

Wait a little more

It’s well known, though drug manufacturers may deny it, that sometimes, the treatment is worse than the disease itself. It’s easy to come up with an effective antibody-producing vaccine, but if it causes serious side effects, that’s not what you signed up for.

So, we reiterate our advice to everyone: Should a vaccine become available soon, wait a little more (I’d say at least a year) before getting one. Let all the issues of the vaccine get resolved before we commit ourselves to one, and its long-term effects.

Some would always argue that the risk of a serious, long-term side effect from any of the vaccines is very small, say, just 0.1 percent, or one in 1,000. But do your math—if we vaccinate the entire Philippine population, that means that around 110,000 Filipinos will have to endure a serious, disabling, possibly permanent side effect of the vaccine.

Compare that to the benefit of avoiding COVID-19 risks, the most serious of which is death. Even if we peg the risk at 8,000 deaths annually, the balance still tilts heavily to the 105,000 who might have serious side effects.

We worry so much about dying from COVID-19, and we should—that’s why we should strictly follow proven precautions. But even granting a worst-case scenario of 8,000 deaths annually, this is still significantly less than the 160,000 to 180,000 deaths due to cardiovascular disease or CVD (heart attacks, strokes and diseases of the arteries) yearly. And yet, I’ve never seen such panic and concern over the CVD pandemic as we’ve witnessed for COVID-19.

I’ve already stated countless times in this column and in webinars that COVID-19 is a serious problem, but the bigger problem is the distortion of perspective which it has created.

And one serious indication of this distortion of perspective is falling prey to vultures who rip the public off with an inadequately tested vaccine which may potentially cause more harm than good.

When people willingly and enthusiastically submit themselves to con artists, it indicates that our perspective has been tragically distorted.