MANILA, Philippines — Local regulators have cleared Russia's one-shot COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in the Philippines.
The development was first announced by vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. in a briefing on Monday.
Food and Drug Administration chief Eric Domingo, meanwhile, told News5 the EUA was given last August 20 for use of individuals who are 18 and above.
Gamaleya Research Institute, the manufacturer of the jab, first applied for EUA of its single-dose version known as "Sputnik Light" early this month.
Regulators in Moscow gave the green light for this in May, with the Russian Direct Investment Fund reporting it is 79.4% effective against the coronavirus.
Sputnik Light is the first component of the two-dose Sputnik V, which has a reported efficacy of 91%.
Both vaccines are based on human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold, and have a storage requirement of 2ºC to 8ºC.
Galvez said with the new EUA, they will follow up on the country's order of at least 10 million Sputnik doses.
He added that because it is only taken in a single dose, 10 million individuals would already avail of the protection of the vaccine.
According to a tally maintained by Philstar.com, the country has received 365,000 Sputnik doses to date.
Latest government figures showed there are now 13.13 million Filipinos fully vaccinated for COVID-19. That's against the target of 70 million inoculated this year.
Some 17.25 million, meanwhile, have received their first dose. — Christian Deiparine with reports from Gaea Katreena Cabico, and News5/Greg Gregorio