The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has cleared the first batch of Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines that arrived over the weekend.

BOC-Port of NAIA District Collector Carmelita Talusan assured that the vaccines would be pre-cleared in its one-stop-shop, PNA reported. This is to ensure that documents are processed and cleared fast, considering these are time and temperature-sensitive shipments.

She added that they would continue to coordinate with Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) for other updates and guidelines.

The 15,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine, which arrived via Qatar airlines from Russia on May 1, is the ninth batch of Covid-19 vaccines cleared by the bureau.

Previous vaccines cleared include 3.5 million doses of Sinovac and 525,600 doses of AstraZeneca.

The Sputnik V vaccine has been developed by the Russia-based Gamaleya Institute. Last March, the Food and Drug Administration gave approval to Sputnik V for emergency use.

Earlier, BOC Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero has instructed the BOC’s Covax special handling team to ensure that the vaccine shipments are given priority and expedited clearance.

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