Consignment of 500,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccines arrive in Tripoli

By Sami Zaptia.

A consignment of 500,000 doses of Sputnik V anti-Coronavirus vaccines arrived in Tripoli yesterday (Photo: Health Ministry).

London, 20 July 2021:

A consignment of 500,000 doses of Sputnik V anti-Coronavirus vaccines arrived by plane at Tripoli’s Mitiga airport yesterday, the Health Ministry reported.

This is the fifth batch of Sputnik V vaccines to arrive in Libya bringing the brand’s total vaccines to 901,252 – the most of the four brands that have arrived in Libya.

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	Brand	Quantity	Date of arrival	Note
1	Sputnik V	101,252	040421	Via UAE
2	Oxford AstraZeneca	57,600	080421	Via Covax
3	Sputnik V	100,000	090421	?
4	Sinovac	150,000	140421	Via Turkey
5	Oxford AstraZeneca	117,600	190521	Via Covax
6	Sputnik V	100,00	150621	?
7	Pfizer	54,600	240621	Via Covax
8	Sputnik V	100,000	060721	?
9	Sputnik V	500,000	190721	?
	Total:	1,281,052

Overall, it is now the nineth consignment of vaccines to arrive in Libya since the first shipment (of Sputnik V) arrived on 4 April. It brings the total number of vaccines of the four brands to arrive in Libya to 1,281,052 doses.

Libya’s Ministry of Health expects a total of 12 million doses to arrive over time.

Libya’s population is 6.9 million excluding foreigners and illegal migrants, but the government has vowed to vaccinate all those present in Libya irrespective of their legal status. On 2 June, the online registration system was opened for non-Libyans.

The latest Coronavirus cases and vaccinations

Meanwhile, the latest National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) figures reported today read as follows:

Total number of people vaccinated	490,614
Total number of Coronavirus cases	226,701
Total number of recovered cases	184,476
Total number of active cases	38,916
Total number of deaths	3,309
Total number of tests conducted over last 24 hours	3,974
Total rate of infection	44.8 percent

Confusion over Sputnik V or Sputnik Light

There is, nevertheless, confusion over which type of Sputnik vaccine is the latest consignment made up of. The Ministry of Health and National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) refer to the batch of 500,000 doses as Sputnik V. The government’s information site Hakomitna is referring to it as the one-shot Sputnik Light.

Last week during a joint press conference with the Health Minister, Official Government Spokesperson Mohamed Hamuda said that Libya is to receive 500,000 doses of the one-shot only Sputnik Light ‘‘by the end of the week.’’

He said the new Sputnik Light also has the advantage of being able to be stored at between 8-2 degrees which is more convenient for many outlying and small health centres in the country. This may be the cause of the confusion, although the photographs of the latest consignment being unloaded from the plane are marked Sputnik V.

Hamuda had also confirmed that around 450,000 people have been vaccinated so far with around 800,000 registered on the official Health Ministry website waiting for their turn.

Meanwhile, leading the joint press conference, Health Minister Ali Zanati had said that while there have been increased numbers of Coronavirus infections, and the virus seems to be spreading at a faster rate, there have been less cases of deaths and hospitalizations.

He had announced that the Ministry will be conducting intensive campaigns in the hotspots as of Thursday and asked Libyans to socially distance over the coming Eid holidays.

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