The Philippine national government delivered a total of 15,000 Sputnik V vaccine doses from Russia’s Gamaleya Institute to five local government units (LGUs) in Metro Manila on Monday, May 3.

Makati, Manila, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, and Taguig each received 3,000 vaccine doses after the shipment arrived in the Philippines on May 1.

The Department of Health said on Monday that seven inoculation sites across the five cities would administer the Russian-made vaccine, namely:

• Makati Coliseum in Makati
• Sta. Ana Hospital in Manila
• Ospital ng Maynila in Manila
• Asian Hospital and Medical Center in Muntinlupa
• Ospital ng Muntinlupa in Muntinlupa
• Ayala Malls Manila Bay in Parañaque
• Lakeshore Vaccination Hub in Taguig

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire noted that the rollout of the Sputnik V doses would be crucial, being the first to require “a different storage requirement.”

“The storage requirement for Sinovac and Astrazeneca vaccines is just at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, but the requirement for Sputnik V vaccines is negative-18 degrees Celsius,” Vergeire said in a mix of English and Filipino during an online press briefing.

Vergeire said in April that it was the reason only LGUs that met storage and handling standards were given the initial supply of the Sputnik V jabs.

In Manila, the doses were delivered to Sta. Ana Hospital via a cold-chain truck from Pharmaserv Express on Monday afternoon, and were subsequently placed in the vaccine storage facility located in the building’s seventh floor.

Meanwhile, Orca Cold Chain Solutions helped Taguig in storing the vaccine doses properly.

Manila, Makati, and Parañaque will begin administering the vaccine to health frontline workers on Tuesday, May 4.

“Makati LGU is thankful for having been chosen as one of the cities which have the capacity to administer the Sputnik vaccine,” Makati city legal officer Don Camiña told reporters in Filipino.

Muntinlupa, which also received the Sputnik V vaccine doses on Monday, will begin the rollout on Wednesday, May 5, targeting senior citizens and persons with comorbidities.

The Russian-developed vaccine is nearly 92% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 cases, and provides complete protection against moderate to severe cases, according to peer-reviewed analysis of trial data. It is covered by an emergency use authorization from the Philippine Food and Drug Administration. – Rappler.com