The Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the emergency use authorization (EUA) of Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, Sputnik Light as a single-shot vaccine, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez, Jr. announced on Monday, August 23.

Sputnik Light requires only a single dose against COVID-19 compared to Russia’s first vaccine product, Sputnik V, which requires two doses to achieve the same effect.

According to the Russian Direct Investment Fund, the single-dose vaccine was first authorized for use in Russia last May with an efficacy rate of 79.4 percent. Sputnik Light requires around 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for storage.

As of writing, the Philippines has so far approved the Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine to administer the single-shot against the COVID-19.

FDA has allowed six vaccines in the country including Sputnik V, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sinovac, and Bharat Biotech.

Moreover, the Philippines has administered over 30 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines and 13 million people have already been fully vaccinated. The government targets to vaccinate up to 70 million people before the year ends.

Source: https://www.fda.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Sputnik-Light-COVID-19-Vaccine.pdf, https://www.fda.gov.ph/sputnik-light-covid-19-vaccine-2/, https://rdif.ru/Eng_fullNews/6763/