The Pateros municipal government started on Friday the vaccination of people who have long waited for their second dose of the Sputnik V vaccine.
Pateros Mayor Miguel “Ike” Ponce III announced on Thursday that the supply of the Sputnik V second dose from the national government arrived last Wednesday but was not immediately deployed as they had to wait for the certificate of analysis.
He said the sequence of second dose vaccination will be from those who got the first dose first based on their vaccination booklets. The municipal government will try to finish administering all the Sputnik V second doses by next week.
Last Sept. 18, 190,000 doses of the Sputnik V component 2 or second dose arrived in the country after several delays in the delivery.
According to the National Task Force against COVID-19, the Russian manufacturer of Sputnik V reportedly faced production issues.
“As promised by the Russian Direct Investment Fund that this will be delivered today , and we are very thankful that they fulfilled their promise and we are hoping that in the next deliveries, there will be no more delay,” said NTF chief implementer Sec. Carlito Galvez, Jr.
The latest shipment of the Sputnik V component 2 will be sent to Bohol, Isabela, Bacoor City in Cavite, Metro Manila, and some areas in Regions 3 and 4-A.
Galvez said the Philippine government is negotiating to get more supplies of the Sputnik Light, the one-shot vaccine similar to Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose Janssen vaccine.
Pateros has surpassed its target to vaccinate 56,000 people, or 80 percent of the target population of 70,000, with the first dose. As of the last update, Pateros has reached about 90 percent of the target for the second dose.
Ponce said the municipal government continues the registration of 12 to 17-year-olds for vaccination although there are no guidelines yet from the government on when the vaccination will start.
“There is no go-signal yet for us to start and we don’t have the vaccines. We are just preparing the list or registration. We are just entertaining the registration and we are not yet scheduling people for vaccination among 12 to 17 years old,” he said.