MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines has documented six cases of the South African coronavirus variant, the health ministry said on Tuesday, raising concern among experts that current vaccines may be less effective.
The Philippines began its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Monday, an important milestone for a country among those hardest hit by the pandemic in Asia, but the discovery of another variant could complicate its recovery effort.
“Although there is no evidence that this variant causes more serious illnesses, the pattern of mutations within this variant suggests greater transmissibility and may have an impact on the vaccine’s effectiveness,” the health ministry said in a statement.
Of the six cases with the South African variant, three were detected locally and two were Filipinos returning from abroad. The origin of the other case was still being verified.
The Philippines has so far found 87 cases with the most transmissible variant.
President Rodrigo Duterte said he would lift restrictions on business and public transport in the capital Manila, once the government secured 20 to 40 million doses of vaccines against the coronavirus.
Although the Philippines is in talks with most major coronavirus vaccine manufacturers to buy 161 million combined doses, the country has been struggling to close deals, while fierce competition restricts supply.
His first shipment of 600,000 doses of vaccines against Sinovac on Sunday was a donation from China, part of which will be used to inoculate military personnel.
The expectation is the delivery of over 1 million doses of Sinovac this month, which according to a Brazilian institute is effective against the British and South African variants.
(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by Martin Petty)