Gov’t eyeing 5 to 10 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V —Galvez

The Philippines will place an initial order for 5 to 10 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine once it receives emergency use authorization (EUA) in the country, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Tuesday.

Galvez said the government is looking at vaccines like Sputnik V and China’s Sinopharm since there is a supply shortage from western manufacturers.

“Just in case magkaroon po ito ng EUA, pwede kaming mag-open up na makabili, maka-access sa other sources like Sinopharm and also Sputnik V,” he said in a briefing.

(Just in case they get an EUA, we can start accessing vaccines from other sources like Sinopharm and also Sputnik V.)

Sinopharm, President Rodrigo Duterte’s preferred COVID-19 vaccine brand, filed an application for EUA at the start of the month. 

The Food and Drug Administration has also deployed a team to Russia to inspect the manufacturing plant of the Gamaleya Institute prior to issuing an EUA to Sputnik V. 

“Once na lumabas na po yung EUA, we will transact na po. Initial [order] po namin is 5 million to 10 million [doses],” Galvez said of the Russian vaccine.

(Once the EUA has been granted, we will start transactions. Our initial order is 5 million to 10 million [doses].)

The Philippines has so far received 1,125,600 doses from China’s Sinovac and British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca.

A total of 215,997 doses have been administered as of March 15.—LDF, GMA News