| Photo courtesy of Sputnik Vaccine via Philippine News Agency
THE Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted an emergency use authorization (EAU) for Gamaleya Research Institute’s Sputnik V.
“After a rigorous and thorough review, the FDA is granting EUA to the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine,” FDA Director General Eric Domingo said Friday, March 19.
“It is decided that all conditions for an EUA are present and the benefits of using the vaccine outweigh the potential risk,” he added.
Russia’s Sputnik V is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to get a EUA in the Philippines, following Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac, respectively.
Securing an authorization allows Sputnik V to be administered to individuals aged 18 years and older.
Adverse effects from the vaccine were “mostly mild and transient, similar to common vaccine reactions,” according to Domingo.
Based on the late-stage trial results published in The Lancet medical journal, Sputnik V has an efficacy rate of 91.6% against COVID-19.
Earlier, the country’s vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. said the Philippines may receive two million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine this April once it obtains EUA from the FDA.
The Philippines is currently in talks to purchase five to 10 million doses of Sputnik V for its national vaccination campaign.
20M doses of Moderna
To add to the country’s supply of COVID-19 vaccines, the Philippines has signed a supply agreement with U.S. vaccine maker Moderna for 20 million doses of its vaccine.
“Yesterday, we signed a supply agreement with Moderna,” Galvez said Friday.
He signed a tripartite agreement with the private sector-led by business tycoon Enrique Razon, chairman of International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI), and Moderna senior vice president.
“With the signing of this tripartite agreement, we can say that our bayanihan spirit is truly alive. We would like to express our deepest appreciation to Mr. Enrique K Razon, Chairman of ICTSI and representing the private sector, for his incessant support to the national government in our fight against this pandemic,” said Galvez.
“We would also like to thank Mr. Patrick Bergstedt and the whole Moderna Team for keeping up with their commitment in providing 20 million ‘doses of hope’ for 10 million Filipinos. Our special thanks to the Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel ‘Babe’ Romualdez for his continued intercession and introduction of Moderna to the national government,” he added.
Under the agreement, 13 million doses of the Moderna vaccine will go to the Philippine government sector, while seven million doses will go to the private sector.
As of March 17, 269,583 medical frontliners and health workers have been vaccinated in the Philippines.
