After Mohali, Gurugram's Fortis Research Institute starts Sputnik V trial run for public

As India continues to ramp up its COVID vaccination drive, Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram has started a trial run of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for the general public. Sputnik V uses two different viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus) in humans. The two doses, given 21 days apart, are different and not interchangeable. Russia's Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology has developed the vaccine and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is marketing it globally. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has been importing the shots from Russia. Over a period of time, the vaccine is also going to be manufactured in India.

Earlier, PM Modi while announcing free COVID vaccines for all managed by the Centre also capped the service charge of vaccines administered by private hospitals at Rs 150. Following that, the Centre had fixed the prices of Covishield at Rs 780, Covaxin at Rs 1,410, and Sputnik V at Rs 1,145. 

Sputnik V vaccination at Fortis Mohali

Before Gurugram's Fortis, Mohali's Fortis on June 25 issued a statement and informed that the registration for the administration of the vaccination can be done through the CoWin and Aarogya Setu applications. In accordance with the government guidelines, the vaccine stock has been directly procured by Fortis from Dr Reddy's Laboratories and has been priced at Rs 1,145 per dose, it added. “While Fortis Hospital Mohali continues to administer Covishield and Covaxin vaccines, Sputnik V is also being made available to the public,” Fortis said in a statement.

Abhijit Singh, Zonal Director, Fortis Hospital, Mohali said that the first hospital to start vaccination for Sputnik V and has vaccinated 200 people till now. “Ours is the first hospital in the region to start vaccination for Sputnik V for the general public. The first day of the vaccination got a good response from the people as around 200 people were vaccinated till Friday evening,” he said.

Sputnik V Can Protect Against All COVID-19 Variants

Meanwhile, Alexander Gintsburg, head of The Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, in a statement, said that Sputnik V protects a person against all the COVID variants. Alexander Gintsburg had said, "Antibodies developed after vaccination with #SputnikV protect from all variants of COVID known today, starting from the UK variant to the so-called Delta variant, first detected in India." He said that the vaccine protects a person against all the variants. He noted that Sputnik V is effective against the UK variant and Delta variant(B.1.617.2), first detected in India. 

(Image Credits: PTI/@SPUTNIKVaccine)