• Sputnik Light becomes the ninth COVID-19 vaccine to be approved in the Philippines.
• The Philippines has so far fully vaccinated only 17.26 million people out of its 110 million population.

The Philippines has reportedly authorized emergency use of Russia's Sputnik Light coronavirus vaccination, making it one of the first Asian countries to approve the single-dose vaccine.

The approval by the food and drug agency in the Philippines will allow the country to execute its order for 10 million doses, cited sources with knowledge of the matter.

Sputnik Light, created by the Gamaleya Institute in Russia, is the ninth COVID-19 vaccine approved in the Philippines, along with doses from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, and China's Sinopharm and Sinovac. Kazakhstan and Mongolia are also among the countries that have approved the COVID-19 shot.

The single-dose vaccine was authorized in Russia last May and has an efficiency rate of 79.4%, as per the Russian Direct Investment Fund. The vaccines are required to be stored at a temperature of 2°-8° Celsius.

Notably, the Philippines government is banking on pharma companies to increase their jab deliveries in September and October 2021.

Authorities have revealed that vaccine rollouts are imperative to the recovery of the country's economy. Before the pandemic, the Philippines was one of the most promising Asian economies in terms of growth but contracted by a staggering 9.6% in 2020.

The country has so far fully vaccinated only 17.26 million people out of its 110 million population, leaving a majority of its citizens vulnerable to the highly transmissible Delta variant.

In related news, the U.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recently gave its full approval for Pfizer's two-dose COVID-19 vaccine, making it the very first shot to be licensed in the country. The FDA approval is expected to trigger more vaccine mandates by companies and employers across the U.S.

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https://news.trust.org/item/20210823045155-lwwrn/