IVI and the Philippines
Member State Relations
5 November 1996: Ambassador of the Philippines to the United Nations, H.E. Felipe Mabilangan, signed the IVI Establishment Agreement.
2 February 2004: The Senate of the Philippines passed Senate Resolution No.105 S04, ratifying the IVI Establishment Agreement.
27 February 2004: The Philippines deposited an Instrument of Ratification with the United Nations, which entered into force on 1 March 2004.
State Funder
Since 2023, the Philippines has donated annual contributions of $20,000 USD to IVI. IVI uses this funding to provide full scholarships to Philippine health professionals to attend the International Vaccinology Course.
Philippine Leadership at IVI
In 2025, the Philippines was elected to the Presidency of the IVI Global Council, IVI’s member state assembly, for the 2026-2027 term. The Philippines appointed Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa to serve in the role of IVI Global Council President.
Previous Collaboration
Strengthening External Quality Assurance for AMR in Asia (EQAsia 2)
IVI joined a consortium with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) (lead grantee) and The Veterinary Faculty at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, to strengthen External Quality Assurance (EQA) for AMR in Asia through the EQASIA project.
Phase I of the project identified and mapped the coverage of EQA programs in Asia and provided seven (7) rounds of EQA services and relevant training to National Reference Laboratories (NRL) and Centers of Excellence (CoEs) across One Health (OH) sectors in Asia during 2021-23. The EQAsia-2, provided four (4) additional rounds of EQAs to more than 80 NRLs/COEs in Asia and support 2 (two) out of 13 countries participating in the EQAsia project to establish a National External Quality Assurance (NEQA) program, provide training in Quality Management Systems (QMS) to NRLs, and build up countries’ capacity to conduct One Health (OH) focused EQA independently.
The outputs of EQAsia 2 will support countries to assess the countries laboratory capacity at generating quality AMR surveillance data. EQAsia 2 is a 25-month project, running from 1 December 2023 to 31 December 2025.
Impact of Vaccination using the Clover SCB-2019 COVID-19 vaccine on Household Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Infection
The main objectives were to compare the secondary attack rates following trial participant COVID-19 index cases in households (HHs) of vaccine recipients compared to control vaccine recipients and to assess the reduction in COVID-19 infections in HHs of vaccine recipient trial participants compared to those of placebo recipients. The study outcomes, focusing on the occurrence of confirmed COVID-19 infections among HHs and HH contacts of SPECTRA placebo or SCB-2019-infected recipients, were published in the Clinical Infectious Disease journal in April 2023.
The findings revealed a trend indicating a potential reduction in the risk of secondary SARS-CoV-2 infections in contacts of vaccinated index cases compared to their unvaccinated counterparts.
Concurrently, a sub-study employing dried blood spots (DBS) for the quantitative detection of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies through ELISA was successfully concluded. The results demonstrated that, in comparison with sera, the DBS method exhibited 100% sensitivity, 99% specificity, a 99% positive predictive value, and 100% negative predictive value.
The manuscript detailing this sub-study has been prepared and submitted to the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in July 2023. This innovative approach using DBS may prove valuable in SARS-CoV-2 household or population serosurveys under circumstances involving limitations in sample collection, shipment, and storage.
Collaborators in the Philippines included the University of the Philippines, the Tropical Disease Foundation, the Asian Hospital and Medical Center, the Manila Doctor Hospital, Las Piñas Doctors Hospital, the UERM Memorial Medical Centers in Laguna and Quezon, and FEU-NRMF Clinical Research.
This project was funded by Clover Biopharmaceuticals in China.
COVID vaccine Clinical and Operational Alliance (COCOA)
As part of the COVID Vaccine Clinical and Operational Alliance (COCOA) consortium, which ran from 2021 to 2025, IVI led a global Phase III pivotal trial of SKYCovione™, SK bioscience’s COVID-19 vaccine and Korea’s first homegrown vaccine licensed by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The trial demonstrated the vaccine’s strong immunogenicity and safety profiles in more than 4,000 adults.
The clinical trials were conducted in Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam, New Zealand, Ukraine, and the Republic of Korea in an effort to accelerate the development of much-needed “Wave 2” vaccines. Study sites in Korea were overseen by SK bioscience, while IVI coordinated the trial across five other countries.
Based on clinical results, SKYCovione™ was added to the WHO Emergency Use Listing in 2023, receiving full marketing authorization from the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
Funding for this Phase III study has been provided by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Additionally, IVI, SK, and the Korea National Institute of Health (KNIH) under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) signed an agreement to jointly conduct antibody testing for the global Phase III trials.
Typhoid Vaccine Program
The Philippines is playing a major role in the ongoing development of IVI’s typhoid conjugate vaccine (Vi-DT) with SK Bioscience. Working with the Philippines FDA and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) IVI successfully completed phase I & II clinical trials of the vaccine, and phase III studies have been ongoing since 2019.
Dengue Vaccine Analysis
In 2017, IVI’s Global Dengue and Aedes-Transmitted Diseases Consortium (GDAC) provided consultative support to the University of the Philippines-National Institute of Health (NIH) to initiate a cohort study in 3,000 children in Cebu province, Philippines just prior to the public introduction of Dengvaxia in the province. This cohort was unique because the dengue-primed status of the cohort children was able to be determined prior to vaccine administration. Dengvaxia has been determined to induce increased risk of hospitalized and severe dengue in vaccine recipients. With funds from the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), IVI is working with collaborators in the Philippines to investigate concerns about potential disease enhancement in dengue naïve vaccine recipients, as well as the impact of Japanese Encephalitis and Zika infections on test results.
Cholera Vaccine Program
In 2017, IVI carried on a clinical phase IV study of the Euvichol oral cholera vaccine (OCV), made by EuBiologics after technology transfer of the vaccine from IVI, as part of a WHO PQ bridging study. Testing of samples for 442 subjects and a subset of 90 samples were carried out for immunological assessment and showed an effective immunological response.
Respiratory Pathogen Vaccine program
From 2007 to 2011, IVI helped conduct a multi-country, hospital-based disease burden study to define the incidence and serotype distribution of pneumonia in Asia. The effort, named PneumoNet, enrolled nearly 6,000 subjects at 3 study sights in urban areas of the Philippines, and demonstrated that pneumonia is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among urban children in the Philippines. The surveillance data supported the expectation that widespread immunization would decrease pneumonia disease burden in the Philippines.
Tuberculosis Vaccine Program
From 2007 to 2011 IVI conducted a tuberculosis (TB) surveillance program to generate accurate epidemiologic data on TB in 9 communities in Santa Rosa City, Laguna province. IVI collaborated with the Philippines Ambulatory Physicians Association (PAPA) and the local government on data analysis, and 223 subjects were enrolled in the program. 43 cases presented to the health care facility were positive of having at least one household contact with signs and symptoms of TB.
International Vaccinology Course
Since 2002, Over 35 Philippine scientists and physicians have received training in IVI’s International Vaccinology Course.