'Made in India' Sputnik V COVID vaccine to be available from Sept-October: Dr. Reddy's

As the country continues to battle against the pandemic, Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Monday said that "Made in India" Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine doses are likely to be available from September-October. Dr Reddy's Laboratories and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) had signed an agreement for the distribution of the Sputnik V vaccine in India. 

Dr Reddy's Laboratories in a statement said," We expect that locally manufactured doses are likely to be available from the September-October period."

Dr Reddy's Laboratories on availability of Sputnik V vaccine

Informing that they have received 31.5 lakh doses of component 1 and 4.5 lakh doses of component 2 of the Sputnik V vaccine in India, Dr Reddy's Laboratories said that it is working closely with the RDIF to ramp up supplies. It further said that it is also working closely with its partners in India for manufacturing readiness.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories' release read, "The Sputnik V vaccination launch we initiated as a pilot in May 2021 has seen gradual and steady commercial scale-up and roll-out all over India since then, having now reached around 80 cities in India. We have partnered with major hospitals around the country and set up our cold chain infrastructure across more than 300 locations since the vaccine requires -18 degree C temperature."

Earlier, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) had issued a statement, stating that the production of Russia's Sputnik V COVID vaccine is expected to come fully on stream in September. It had said, "Production in India is expected to come fully onstream in September and RDIF expects India to become a major production hub for the Sputnik V vaccine with such companies as Serum Institute of India, the world's biggest vaccine producer, Gland Pharma, Hetero Biopharma, Panacea Biotec, Stelis Biopharma, Virchow Biotech and Morepen Laboratories working to produce the vaccine."

Russia's COVID vaccine-Sputnik V

The vaccine has been developed by Russia's Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and is being marketed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), globally. Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories, the marketing partner for the vaccine in the country, has been importing the shots from Russia. By September-October, the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company, apart from imported shots, is expected to make available locally manufactured shots. The vaccine has been approved for emergency use in India. 

Apart from India, the Sputnik V vaccine has been registered in 67 countries. The data gathered during the vaccination of the population in a number of countries, including Mexico, Argentina, Serbia, Bahrain, Hungary, San-Marino, UAE, and others, shows that Sputnik V is one of the safest and most effective coronavirus vaccines. Russian health officials have so far, received no reports of unusual blood-clotting disorders in persons who received the Sputnik V vaccination. 

The vaccine uses two different viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus) in humans. It employs a different vector for each of the two shots, given 21 days apart. According to Gamaleya and the RDIF, Sputnik V has demonstrated an efficacy rate of 92 per cent.

(Image: ANI, PTI)