The Philippines will initially receive 20,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine within the next few days to “fine-tune” the logistical requirements for the Russian-made jabs, the country’s top diplomat in Moscow said on Tuesday.

According to Ambassador Carlos Soreta, the delivery will take place after the Philippines has complied with the requirements for the procurement of the Sputnik V, including the logistical conditions for transport and storage of the vaccine. 

“We are looking at five figures in the next few days, or 20,000 will be coming to the Philippines,” Soreta said during a virtual interview with Malacañang reporters. “My understanding is we have complied with their requirements because they would not deliver unless they are satisfied with our logistics site.”

Shortly after the initial delivery, the Philippine envoy said they are looking at almost half a million doses of delivery on or before the end of April or early May and will increase in numbers up to 20 million doses before the end of 2021. 

He said the transaction took a while due to certain “unavoidable” differences that were eventually settled between the parties involved. 

“We are very happy about this development although it took a while. It was unavoidable, they're just doing the job. There were differences in terminologies and technologies. Those have been overcome,” he said. 

Soreta, however, said the Philippine government should manage its expectations especially at the moment when the demand for vaccines is very high under a “sophisticated situation”.

“We have to be cognizant of the realities, the demand is very high for the vaccine and the best we can do is try to lock in the supplies,” he said. 

Earlier this year, the prestigious Lancet medical journal published a favorable review of the Sputnik V with an efficacy rate higher than 91.6 percent. 

Sputnik V is a viral vector COVID-19 vaccine developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology.