An additional 11,100 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine arrived in Davao City, Tuesday morning.
The second batch of the vaccine produced by the Gamaleya Institute in Russia, Philippine Airlines flight PR1809, arrived at around 6 p.m.
900 doses of it are reserved for the second dose, while 10,200 are for the first dose of those belonging to the A1 to A5 eligible priority groups.
The Davao region had earlier received 900 doses of Sputnik V on June 2.
According to the latest records of the Department of Health Davao region, they have already received 774,090 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The first dose has reached 425,139 in the region, while 92,071 have been vaccinated in the second dose.
There was a logistical issue, so the scheduled delivery of the Sputnik V vaccine to the country was delayed on Wednesday.
So far, about 350,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine have arrived in the Philippines, out of a total of more than 20.7 million COVID vaccine doses received by the country. Saturday night is the latest delivery of such a vaccine.
11,100 doses of Sputnik V vaccine arrive in Davao
Russian Ambassador to the Philippines Marat Pavlov explained that only a few Sputnik V had been delivered to the Philippines because they also need to be vaccinated against Russia’s COVID-19.
“The (COVID) situation in my country is not good. So we also should inoculate our population,” he said.
Last month, the Department of Health (DOH) clarified Wednesday that Davao City is not the new “epicenter” of COVID-19 in the Philippines.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH discourages the use of “epicenter” to describe a COVID-19 surge in an area.
“Epicenter, in relation to epidemics, is interpreted by some to refer to an area as the source of the infection. It is also meant to connote the area as a hotspot for the infection,” she told reporters.
“These areas are not the origin of the COVID-19 virus. Moreover, using the term ‘epicenter’ detracts from other surrounding areas which may be equally or more affected by COVID-19,” she added. “Considering this, no, Davao City is not an epicenter.”
Davao City has overtaken Quezon City as area I the country with the highest average of new COVID-19 cases for the first week of June.
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