A SENATOR has reiterated the urgency for the Philippines to establish its own virology and vaccine institute amid the increasing positivity rate of coronavirus cases and a new subvariant detected in the country. 

“The height of the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of always being ready especially in extending the Philippines’ capacity to study different viruses and other viral diseases,” Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said in a statement in time for the observance of World Immunization Week.  

“Having our own virology and vaccine institute would ensure readiness and easier discovery of vaccines and remedies to sicknesses,” he said in Filipino.  

Senate Bill No. 941, which Mr. Gatchalian authored, has been pending at the committee level. A similar measure in the House of Representatives has been given third reading approval.  

The proposed Virology and Vaccine Institute of the Philippines (VIP) “will focus on building a body of research on virus strains and the diseases they cause to serve as the foundation of applied research studies and the development of diagnostic kits, vaccines, and therapeutics not just for humans, but also for animal and plant diseases that cause significant losses for local farmers and impact animal and agronomic health and food supplies,” Mr. Gatchalian said in the bill’s explanatory note.  

The institute would also allow Filipino and foreign researchers to collaborate in studying viruses of agricultural, industrial, clinical, and environmental importance, the senator said.  

“The VIP shall establish strategic partnerships with the world’s leading scientists, virology centers and institutes, and conduct innovative and pioneering researches that will advance the frontiers of virology in the country,” according to the bill.  

The secretary of Science and Technology will serve as the VIP’s governing board, with the Health secretary as co-chair.    

The Agriculture, Trade and Industry, and Environment and Natural Resources Secretaries will be among those who make up the board.  

Representatives from the academe, pharmaceutical industry, and a medical or allied-health association, will be appointed to the board by the Philippine president.  

The institute would need an initial funding of P2 billion from the national budget, according to the measure.  

The bill is included in the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council’s common legislative agenda. 

Pandemic monitoring group OCTA Research said last week that the Philippines’ coronavirus infection rate increased to 12.3% last week from 8.1% previously.  

The country also detected its first case of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, which is spreading fast in more than 30 countries. 

Also called Arcturus, the subvariant is said to be highly contagious and more transmissible. The World Health Organization labeled XBB.1.16 a variant of interest. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz

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