The Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration has approved the Emergency Use Authrorization (EUA) of British manufacturer AstraZeneca.

“Dahil may EUA na siya, pwede na siya gamitin ng pamahalaan. Marami ding local government units na nakikipag-tripartite agreement with the gov’t and AstraZeneca,” FDA Chief Eric Domingo said in a media briefing.

Domingo said that the vaccine has more than 70% efficacy if two doses will be given to a person. Domingo said the AstraZeneca EUA will be following the standard dose of 2 doses, 4-12 weeks apart.

“Ang kaniyang efficacy rate after the first dose is 70%. Tumataas ito after bigyan ng second dose. This is still part of the ongoing phase 3 clinical trial data,” he said.

The FDA chief said that AstraZeneca has more advantage compared to other brands due to storage requirements.

“Hindi siya masyadong maselan and mas madali i-transport sa lugar na pagbabakunahan,” Domingo added.

Domingo said on Wednesday that AstraZeneca received favorable recommendations and reviews from their expert panel.

“But it’s really a favorable recommendation from the panels. AstraZeneca has EUA from the UK, their regulatory agency. We got info from that. So that’s why it was shorter, 21 days. Experts have seen it. So we’re just asking local questions,” he added.

AstraZeneca is the second vaccine to receive an EUA from the Philippines. Pfizer and BioNTech was the first one to receive emergency use approval from the FDA.