MANILA – The Philippines on Wednesday night received another 15,000 doses of Russian-made Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine which serve as “component 2 or follow-up dose” for the initial batch delivered on May 1.
Qatar Airways flight QR928 carrying the Russian vaccines produced by the pharmaceutical company Gamaleya Research Institute landed at around 9:37 p.m. at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.
The first 15,000 doses of Sputnik V jabs (component 1) were initially rolled out in the cities of Taguig, Manila, Muntinlupa, Makati, and Parañaque as they have cold storage capacity.
The pilot rollout in five selected cities has determined the capability of the country to handle and administer the highly sensitive jab.
It also assessed the government’s capacity for handling jabs that require sub-zero temperature.
Health Undersecretary Carol Taino said the second batch of Gamaleya’s Sputnik V jab will be deployed to the same cities that initially received the “component 1.”
Each will get another 3,000 doses.
“Component 1 will be the first dose and component 2 will be the second dose,” Taino said.
She added that Component 2 of Sputnik V vaccines will be administered to the same persons who received component 1 after 21 days.
The government is expecting deliveries of another 300,000 doses of Sputnik V jabs next week, she added.
National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said a bulk of Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines are set to arrive in the second or third week of May.
A steady supply of COVID-19 vaccines will be arriving by June.