A total of 190,000 doses of Sputnik V anti-COVID vaccines arrived on Saturday as promised by the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19.
The national government is also expecting an additional delivery of one million doses of Sputnik Light, a one-dose version of the vaccine, by this month.
NTF chief implementer Carlito Galvez, Jr. said in a live address on the same day said that the Sputnik V doses will be allocated to areas that still have large numbers of Sputnik V recipients waiting for their second dose.
“Pupunta ito sa lahat ng areas na nabigyan [na] natin. I believe ‘yong Bohol, they have 4,000 [first-dose recipients]. Isabela, meron din. Dito sa Metro Manila, Region 3, and Region 4A, lahat yan mabibigyan. So lahat ng mga hindi pa nakakakuha ng Component 2 ay mabibigyan,”
“Medyo nakahinga na nang maluwag ang ating mga mamamayan na naturukan na ng Component 1. We are apologizing for the delay, we had some supply issues. We are hoping in the next deliveries, there will be no more delays,”
Galvez added that the national government is also fast-tracking deliveries from other vaccine manufacturers.
“In our delivery right now, we are scaling up our deliveries with Pfizer, Moderna, Sinovac, and even COVAX, they are going to increase their deliveries,” he added.
Meanwhile, Puerto Princesa City Health Officer Dr. Ric Panganiban said in a phone interview on Sunday that they expect feedback in three to five days on whether the city will be receiving its allocation of Sputnik V Component 2. At least 5,000 first dose recipients are still waiting for their second doses.
“Wala pa namang balita [sa allocation]. Pero sana talaga may dumating. Baka in three to five days, meron na ‘yan,” Panganiban said.
Aside from the Sputnik V vaccines, 961,000 doses of Moderna vaccines also arrived in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Galvez added that they are expecting increased volumes of delivery, both purchased from the manufacturers and allocations from the World Health Organization (WHO) COVAX Facility.
