MANILA: The Philippines' Food and Drug Administration has authorized the emergency use of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE's COVID-19 vaccine, its head said on Thursday.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which has shown a 95% success rate, is the first vaccine the Philippines has approved.

FDA head Rolando Enrique Domingo told a media briefing China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd on Wednesday submitted to regulators its emergency use authorization application.