Philippines Provides Near Expired Sputnik V Vaccine Assistance To Myanmar

Illustration of COVID-19 vaccination in the Philippines. (photo; doc. between)

JAKARTA – Cooperation between ASEAN countries in handling COVID-19 is progressing. The Philippines is now considering donating five million doses of the nearly expired Sputnik V COVID vaccine to Myanmar. This was explained by a senior Philippine health official on Monday, May 2, in Manila.

The vaccine donation will be the first given by the Philippines to another country after last year the country struggled to get vaccines for its 110 million people.

Philippine health officials say the country now has an ample supply of the vaccine.

Philippine authorities are seeking permission to donate the Russian-made vaccine through the Myanmar Red Cross Society, Philippine deputy health minister Maria Rosario Vergeire said at a regular press conference.

According to Myanmar's health ministry, less than half of the country's 53 million people have received two doses of the COVID vaccine. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power 15 months ago.

The vaccination rate in Myanmar is still lagging behind the vaccination rate in the Philippines. Nearly 67.9 million people have been vaccinated in the Philippines, which has been battling one of Asia's worst COVID crises.