QUEZON CITY, (PIA) -- The fourth government-procured tranche of Sputnik V vaccines by Russia’s Gamaleya Institute has arrived in the Philippines on Friday evening at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3.

Of the total 132,200 doses for this shipment, 82,200 are allocated for the first vaccination dose while the remaining 50,000 will be administered for the second dose. 

Together with Vaccine Czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Marat Pavlov received the supplementary batch out of the total 170,000 Sputnik V doses that are scheduled to arrive this week following the initial delivery delay due to logistical issues and vaccine upgrade. 

Secretary Galvez said in a press interview that 40-50% of this vaccine supply including the additional 37,800 tranche that arrived Saturday will be distributed among ‘trained’ LGUs in the National Capital Region (NCR) because the Sputnik V doses are in ampoules. 

In terms of vaccine protection, the efficacy rate of Sputnik V is within 91-92% that can withstand any of the COVID-19 variants once the two doses are completed. 

Meanwhile, the vaccine czar also announced the expected arrival of another 4 million anti-COVID jabs next week consisting of 2.5 million Sinovac vaccines, 1.17 million doses of AstraZeneca, and approximately 500,000 supply of Pfizer vaccine. 

(PIA-NCR with report from intern Janna Pineda, Univ. of the East - Caloocan)