A total of 190,000 doses of the Sputnik V Component II COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the Philippines last night (Sept. 18) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.
The shipment was welcomed by vaccine czar and National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19 chief implementer Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. and Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Marat Pavlov.
“Medyo makakahinga na ng maluwag ang ating mamamayanan na naturukan ng Component I at we are apologizing for the delay of these Component II considering that we have some supply issues,” Galvez told the media.
“We are very thankful that the [manufacturers of Sputnik V] fulfilled the promise and we are hoping that in the next deliveries, there will be no more delays,” he added.
As for the problem of supply in Sputnik V vaccines, Galvez said there is a problem with production.
“Ang nakikita natin [ay ‘yung] production. I believe nahihirapan sila sa production line, and considering na kulang din sila sa expansion. And, at the same time, nagkaroon sila ng domestic requirements,” he said.
“More or less, ang na-deliver na dito ay less than 400,000 pa rin so we wanted na the deliveries should be increased. Kasi ang ating contract is 10 million for Sputnik V,” he added.
Galvez also said that once the contract has been fulfilled, they will look more into procuring Sputnik Light, a one-dose vaccine for COVID-19.
“We are now possibly focusing on Sputnik Light. It’s like Johnson & Johnson. Mas maganda na makuha natin because mas madali itong ideploy sa mga geographically isolated areas.” – Report from Rod Lagusad/PG – jlo
