Sputnik V, Pfizer vaccines to arrive in late April — Galvez

COVID-19 vaccines produced by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute and Pfizer will be delivered to the Philippines starting next week, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said Thursday.

At a Palace news conference, the government’s vaccine czar said an initial 15,000 Sputnik V doses are expected to arrive on April 25. Another batch consisting of 480,000 doses will be shipped to the country on April 29, along with 500,000 Sinovac doses.

Galvez said 195,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine from the COVAX Facility might arrive by the end of the month.

The Philippines is set to receive 1 to 2 million Sputnik V shots in May and 2 million in June, he added.

Galvez also expressed hope that an initial 194,000 doses of Moderna vaccine would arrive in May.

Earlier, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez said vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna would start arriving in May and June, respectively.

The Philippines has so far vaccinated nearly 1.4 million people since it rolled out its mass immunization campaign on March 1, according to government data. — RSJ, GMA News