50K Sputnik V vaccine doses arrive in Philippines
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines received 50,000 more doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute.
The Qatar Airways flight carrying the Sputnik V jabs arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on Sunday night.
The National Task Force against COVID-19 said the vaccines will be distributed in “centers of gravity” or areas in the country that are experiencing surges in COVID-19 cases.
The latest shipment raised the number of jabs the government has received from the Russian drugmaker to 80,000. The first two batches comprising 15,000 doses each arrived in May 1 and May 12.
Sputnik V is taken in two doses. A “real-world” assessment of Russian scientists published in The Lancet medical journal found the Sputnik V vaccine 97.6% effective against COVID-19, Reuters reported.
It is one of the four vaccines being used in the government’s inoculation drive, along with those developed by Sinovac Biotech, AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said the Philippines secured a total of 10 million vaccines from Gamaleya Research Institute with a contract expandable for up to 20 million doses.
In an interview over radio dzMM Sunday, Galvez said the country has administered 5.1 million doses. Some 1.18 million Filipinos have completed vaccination.
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