The Department of Science and Technology or DOST has confirmed that the trial for the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine has started in the Philippines.

“As an update to the 3 FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved vaccine developers to conduct clinical trials in the Philippines, Janssen Pharmaceuticals has already started with their trials,” Science Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said in a media briefing.

The DOST official added that site preparations for the clinical trials of vaccine developers Clover and Sinovac are ongoing.

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Guevarra said that they cannot disclose the number of participants to the Janssen trial, the pharmaceutical firm of the U.S. company of Johnson and Johnson.

The Department of Health clarified that the trial sites include the capital region, Calabarzon, and Western Visayas.

The clinical trials will be conducted in areas with a high number of coronavirus infections in the last two weeks.

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Janssen’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine uses an adenovirus—a type of virus that causes the common cold to introduce coronavirus proteins into cells in the body.

Initial data showed that Janssen was 66 percent effective overall in preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, 28 days after vaccination. (TDT)

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