SAN JOSE, Antique – The province of Antique is the first in Western Visayas to get Sputnik V, a vaccine against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) made by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute.
A total of 2,400 doses of Sputnik vaccines were delivered on Tuesday by the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC).
These would be administered to senior citizens and those with comorbidities, said Gov. Rhodora Cadiao.
“Although siguro kailangan pang i-briefing ‘yung nurses and doctors kasi bago,” Cadiao told Panay News.
The governor said the delivery of the vaccines was most welcome. COVID-19 vaccinations in Antique stopped for a week due to the lack of vaccines.
“One week na nakapila ang mga tawo, walang bakuna so I requested for additional allocations. I even requested Cong. Loren Legarda to help us with the Department of Health and the Inter-Agency Task Force,” said Cadiao.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Wednesday it would allow a 42-day interval between doses of Sputnik, though still below the 90-day interval recommended by the vaccine manufacturer.
FDA chief Rolando Enrique Domingo said the Gamaleya Institute’s request to widen the time interval between two vaccine doses to 90 days from 21 would have to be “re-evaluated” as the Russian vaccine maker submitted more data to support it.
“Our vaccine experts recommended a maximum dose interval of 42 days. No problem in delaying the second dose, but if we give it within 42 days we have reason to believe that the results are going to be very good,” Domingo told a separate briefing.
In making the request, Gamaleya “submitted studies showing immunogenicity beyond the 21-day interval,” Domingo said.
Aside from Sputnik, Antique also received on Tuesday 6,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines for the second dose of Antiqueños who previously received their first dose.
As of July 6, data from the Antique Provincial Health Office showed 2,418 total confirmed COVID-9 cases in the province since the pandemic started last year.
Of these, 1,985 already recovered while 115 died, leaving Antique with 318 active cases currently./PN
