Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 likely be authorised in India soon: Sources

Amid rising COVID-19 cases in the country, the Centre is likely to give emergency authorisation to Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, top government sources told Republic Tv. The vaccine which reportedly has an efficacy rate of 91.6 per cent, if given authorisation, would be the third vaccine to be authorised by the Centre, the other two being- Covaxin and Covishield.  

Earlier, in an exclusive conversation with Republic Media Network, a Correspondent of Russia Today Roman Kosarev talked about the Sputnik V vaccine. Describing the vaccine as one of the 'most recognised' in the world, Kosarev said, "The total number of doses that will be manufactured overseas now amounts to 1.1 billion, and of course a major part of that will be produced in India."

Moving to other countries, he said that the vaccine has received approval from 59 countries including china and almost 10 countries are in talks with Russia to produce the vaccine locally. "Austria is in the last phase of talks with Russia to manufacture the vaccines locally, and in Germany as well. Citing the polls conducted by a British company in Germany, he said, "People are waiting for the vaccine in the country."

Having said that, he reiterated that the Global presence of the vaccine is on a rise. "The ultimate goal at the end of the day is to vaccinate as many people as possible all across the globe,' he added. 

COVID-19 Vaccines in India

Meanwhile, at the beginning of 2021, India approved two vaccines- Covaxin and Covishield. Covaxin, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, is based on an inactivated whole SARS-CoV-2 virion. A virus's disease-producing capacity is inactivated in this method.

Covishield manufactured by SII from Oxford AstraZeneca stable, on the other hand, is based on the viral vector platform. A chimpanzee adenovirus called ChAdOxy is the vector that has been modified to carry the coronavirus spike protein into human cells.

(Credits-AP)