India's COVID-19 vaccine drive to get boost with first Sputnik V load coming by May-end

India expects to have a consignment of its third approved COVID-19 vaccine - Sputnik V - by end of the May. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories which received approval from Indian regulators said on Tuesday that the first load will arrive from the Russian Direct Investment Fund. Dr. Reddys and RDIF together started conducting clinical trials of Sputnik V in September 2020. The vaccine will be imported in a frozen condition from RDIF maintaining -18 to -22 degrees celsius.

The vaccine is developed by Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology which has the rights for distribution of the first 125 million doses in India. Initially it was 100 million, however, it was changed later. A Dr Reddy's official mentioned that the domestic manufacturing of the vaccine is expected to get ramped up from Q2.

"We are planning to have the first batches imported by Q1, and are trying our best to have them by end-May," added Dr. Reddy's spokesperson.

Recently in a virtual press conference, RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev had said he expects over 50 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine to be manufactured in India by this summer. He had added that RDIF has partnered up with five drug companies for the vaccine and is looking at a couple of more firms for the possible production packages. 

India's vaccination journey

Now that India is soon going to have its third vaccine and also the third phase, the process of the inoculation drive is set to proceed at a faster clip. Approvals were given in January 2021 for the two vaccines - Covaxin of Bharat Biotech and Covishield of Oxford-AstraZeneca manufactured by Serum Institute of India in Pune.  

India's hope to control the current spread of the virus depends majorly on vaccination. The health ministry of Monday informed that India has set a new record of COVID-19 vaccinations by administering 14.19 crore vaccine doses in 100 days. However, the new number of cases in the country are climbing record-breaking heights. In the last 24 hours, India recorded 323,144 new cases with 2,771 new deaths.