President Rodrigo Duterte receives his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine made by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm. To date, FDA has not yet issued an Emergency Use Authorization to Sinopharm.

But it has given the Presidential Security Group a compassionate use permit for 10,000 Sinopharm doses. Vaccines w/ EUA currently available in PH: Sinovac, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V.

Go said the President’s doctor had permission to inject the Sinopharm vaccine, even though it has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use.

The Beijing Institute of Biological Products is the developer of the Sinopharm vaccine.

Sinopharm is the vaccine favored in the Middle East because such a vaccine was injected into Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

The use of Sinopharm with an efficacy of 79.34% against coronavirus is also approved in Bahrain and Egypt.