Philippines allows Sinovac to hold Covid-19 vaccine trials as total exceeds 504,000 on Tues (Jan 19)

A health worker conducts mock vaccination during a simulation exercise for the coronavirus disease vaccination activities, at the Universidad de Manila, in Manila, on Tuesday (Jan 19, 2021). - Reuters

MANILA, Jan 19 (Bloomberg): The Philippines has allowed China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd to hold clinical trials in the Southeast Asian nation for its coronavirus vaccine, which President Rodrigo Duterte prefers to be inoculated with, officials said.

Duterte will take the first Sinovac shot once available, but wants the inoculation to be in private, his spokesman Harry Roque said at a briefing.