House leader raises concern over supply woes for Sputnik V’s second dose

Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez on Wednesday raised concern about the supposed non-supply of Sputnik V vaccines in the country as it affects his constituents in Cagayan de Oro City.

Rodriguez claimed that more or less 300,000 Filipinos who took the Russian-made vaccine are presently waiting for their second dose, of which at least 12,000 are his constituents.

"I have more than 12,000 of these vaccine takers who received their first jab in June and who were supposed to get the second shot in July. It is now September and there is still no supply,” the lawmaker said in a statement.

Rodriguez said his constituents are afraid that their first shot of COVID-19 vaccine was not effective and will not protect them against the disease.

"I suppose this sense of fear, anxiety and uncertainty is shared by the more than 270,000 other Filipinos who had no choice but to take the Russian vaccine because that was the one delivered to vaccination centers like those in Cagayan de Oro by the Department of Health,” Rodriguez said.

He wrote a letter to Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., asking them for the immediate delivery of the Sputnik vaccines to Cagayan de Oro City and other areas as well.

"Our constituents were forced to take Sputnik V because no other vaccine was available. But now they are in limbo and in fear. The government has left them hanging,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said if there is no Russian vaccine supply that is forthcoming, concerned officials should decide what to do in the case of those who received the first shot of the Sputnik V.

“They should say so if our people will get Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, or another jab as their second shot, or if they would repeat their vaccination all over again,” he said.

In August, some 15,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine arrived in the country. These doses were intended to be used as second doses.

The Food and Drug Administration had said the government is considering allowing those who are still waiting for the second dose of Sputnik V to get inoculated with two doses using another brand. — RSJ, GMA News