Concepcion to pharma firms: Apply for COVID-19 bivalent CPR

MANILA, Philippines — Go Negosyo Founder Joey Concepcion reiterated his call to pharmaceutical firms to apply for certificate of product registration (CPR) for COVID-19 bivalent vaccines, emphasizing the dangers of long COVID.

Concepcion renewed his call following a recent Go Negosyo town hall meeting where infectious disease specialist Rontgene Solante warned of the dangers of long COVID, which presents lingering effects of the disease long after an individual has been infected with COVID-19.

“You can just imagine an individual who is in the frontline of your workplace and will have brain fog and memory loss. That’s something that will be a disadvantage to the company,” Solante said, adding that long COVID is unique to the SARS-CoV2 virus, which causes COVID-19.

Go Negosyo emphasized that booster doses can help prevent other complications of the virus, especially long COVID, which has affected a significant percentage of people who have had COVID-19.

Concepcion appealed to vaccine manufacturers to already apply for the CPRs. “We must remember that the country is no longer under a state of public health emergency, so we cannot import COVID-19 vaccines through Emergency Use Authorization anymore,” said Concepcion, who also leads the Jobs group of the Private Sector Advisory Council.

During the townhall meeting, Solante underscored the importance of workers receiving booster doses as it will help protect them from a severe version of the virus and allow them to continue helping the economy.

“It’s very difficult to build a population wall of immunity in the community. At least in your workplace, if all of you are vaccinated, if all people are boostered, then you have a lower risk of higher absenteeism and loss of productivity,” he said.

“Imagine in a company where you have an individual who developed mild infection but long COVID was there. The co-morbidities are amplified, uncontrolled hypertension, uncontrolled diabetes. That’s something that really will be a burden of the infection in terms of productivity,” he added.

Concepcion expressed hope that the COVID vaccine will eventually be commercially available just like the vaccines for pneumonia, the flu and shingles.

“The way forward for the country to obtain needed bivalent vaccines for booster shots is for pharmaceutical firms to apply for CPR. They cannot permanently rely on the government for indemnification from adverse reactions,” Concepcion said.

Last week, Concepcion stressed that it is important to prepare and allow people to make their own decisions on vaccination at a time when positivity rates are low.

“Eventually, COVID-19 will be just like the flu, or pneumonia or shingles, with regular vaccinations available for those who need it. We just have to make sure that the vaccines will be widely available,” he said.

Concepcion said it will be nearly a year since most people received their booster shots, suggesting that there might be waning immunity.

“The government has spent enough for COVID. It is time that the responsibility is shifted to the pharma companies to make these medicines available, and to the individuals to protect themselves by getting vaccinated or boosted,” he said.

He added that the pharma companies would be able to generate business from the vaccines that would be sold at a higher price and people will make it part of their regular vaccinations.