The Philippines has no plans to buy additional doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines as the country still has enough supply of COVID-19 vaccines, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said.
“As of now, alam ko walang balak na bumili ng Sputnik V vaccine. We have enough ngayon (I believe there are no plans to procure the Sputnik V vaccine. We have enough ),” said DOH Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje during a public briefing on Saturday, Feb. 26.
If the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines will be affected amid the ongoing tension in Ukraine, the country will procure mRNA vaccines from the US, she said.
In a related development, Cabotaje said that additional Pfizer vaccines intended for five to 11-years-old will arrive in March. The said supply was supposed to arrive this month.
“On track iyan except medyo kaunting delay iyong pag-deliver natin nung five to 11 na vaccine natin na may kaunting aberya but naayos na iyan in terms of the payments. So imbes na may dadating na 1.6 million noong February 23 ay first week of March na dadating (It is on track except for a slight delay in the delivery of vaccines for our five to 11 . There were a few glitches but that has been resolved in terms of payments. So, the 1.6 million vaccines that were supposed to arrive last February 23— will arrive in the first week of March),” she said.
“But iyong ating mga ibang bakuna, iyong ating adult na Pfizer ay on track naman po iyon (But the other vaccines, the Pfizer vaccines for adults are on track),” she added.
Last Jan. 29, Cabotaje said the Philippines may eventually just use at least three or four vaccine brands in its COVID-19 program.