The Philippines received additional 37,800 doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine-Component I on Saturday night.
The latest shipment of the Russian jab arrived on board a Korean Air flight KE 632 from Moscow via Incheon that landed about 9 p.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 in Parañaque City.
The country has now a total 350,000 doses of Sputnik V jab, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology and requires a negative 18 degrees Celsius temperature.
The new batch of Sputnik V was immediately transported to the PharmaServ Express cold-chain storage facility in San Roque, Marikina City.
In an interview, Director Maria Soledad Antonio of the Bureau of International Health Cooperation said the latest delivery will be given to areas experiencing a surge of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases.
These vaccines will be allocated as first dose, she added.
Last Friday, the Philippines also received 132,200 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine, consisting of 82,200 doses of Component I and 50,000 doses of Component II.
Antonio said the vaccination program remains on track despite the slight delays in jab deliveries, assuring the bulk of supplies will be arriving next week.
Once the large volume is delivered in the country, she said the national government will immediately deploy the vaccines to various local government units (LGUs).
“This coming week, hahabol tayo sa deployment para mas marami pang mabakunahan sa mga LGUs natin (we will hasten the deployment to make sure LGUs can vaccinate more),” Antonio said. (PNA)
