Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) — The delivery of 15,000 Sputnik V vaccines has been pushed back to April 28.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. confirmed this in a text message on Sunday.
“It will arrive on Wednesday due to some logistical issues and export requirements on the Russian side,” he said, but gave no other details.
The vaccines were supposed to arrive on Sunday.
The Department of Health earlier said this initial batch would most likely be used in Metro Manila due to storage requirements.
Sputnik V vaccines come in liquid and powdered form. The liquid doses must be stored in ultra-cold temperatures. The powdered version, which has to be diluted before vaccination, can be kept in normal fridge temperature of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, making it easier to transport and store.
The next shipment of Sputnik V vaccines containing 480,000 doses was supposed to arrive in the country on April 29, the same day 500,000 more doses of China’s Sinovac jabs are expected to arrive, however there is no information on whether these would be affected by the adjusted schedule of arrival for the first batch.
