Philippines gets 2.7 million procured Sputnik V doses

MANILA, Philippines — Some 2.7 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine reached the Philippines on Tuesday, adding to the national government's procured supply. 

The Philippine Airlines flight PR8623 landed at the NAIA Terminal 2 in Parañaque past 3 p.m. of November 2 carrying the jabs.  

Of the latest shipment, 350,000 doses are Component 1 of Sputnik V, while 1.35 million are of Component 2 of the said vaccine. 

This brings the country's supply of the Russian-made jab to 4.39 million, a monitoring by Philstar.com showed. 

Most of the Philippines' stockpile of vaccines remain those of China's Sinovac, followed by Pfizer and Astrazeneca. 

Latest figures showed the country has fully vaccinated 27.36 million Filipinos. 

That's 35.47% of the government's target of inoculating 77.13 million this year to meet "population protection." 

In the National Capital Region or Metro Manila, the vaccination rate has stood at 87.78%, or 8.58 million residents now complete with their shots. 

The Philippines began its inoculation efforts in March. Eight months later, it is now allowing vaccinations for the general population including minors as young as 12.

A government panel has also recommended administering COVID-19 booster shots and third doses on health workers and the elderly, as well as those with comorbidities. 

But the health department said this would still need emergency use authorization from the Philippine Food and Drug Administration.