The Philippine government is planning to limit the future acquisition of COVID-19 vaccines in three to four brands, a Department of Health (DOH) official said on Saturday.

During the ''Laging Handa'' virtual public briefing, Health Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said Sputnik, the Russian vaccine, is one of the brands that will no longer be acquired by the Philippines in the future.

"Based on my understanding we will no longer acquire Sputnik vaccine; we know that we now have to limit it. We already have too many portfolios of vaccines. There are some preferences, so maybe we just limit it now to three to four vaccines (brands) in the future," she said.

Cabotaje expressed optimism that the government will be able to meet its target to vaccinate 70 million Filipinos until next month.

"As of yesterday, the total vaccination for the first dose was 60 million and 58.6 million for complete vaccination. So if we already have 60, we just need around 10 million until February. We hope to push to reach the 70 million by at least the end of the first quarter, if earlier ‘ much better'," she said.

"Many of our health care workers got sick, they are under quarantine or isolation which makes our vaccination slow. So we look into other strategies, the vaccination of our pharmacies and other private clinics to help our local government units," she added. Robina Asido/DMS