RDIF expects India to produce 50 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine by this summer

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on Tuesday said that it is expecting over 50 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine to be manufactured in India by this summer. This comes after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) on Monday registered the vaccine under the emergency use authorization procedure.

RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev in a virtual press conference said besides five drug companies that the Russian firm had ties ups with, they are looking for a couple of more firms for the possible production pacts.

"We almost think sputnik V is an Indian-Russian vaccine because lots of production of sputnik V will be done in India. We publicly announced five production partnerships in India with some of the largest Indian pharmaceutical companies," Dmitriev said.

"We believe more than 50 million doses a month (to be manufactured) in the summer (in a couple of months). This is our plan. By summer we expect to manufacture 50 million doses or more of sputnik V a month in India, " he added. 

On Tuesday, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has now approved the use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the COVID-19 virus. Before the Sputnik V vaccine was approved, the DCGI had already granted emergency use authorization to two COVID-19 vaccines –  indigenously developed Covaxin from Bharat Biotech, and Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India. The Centre fast-tracked the Emergency Approvals for COVID-19 vaccines produced outside India that have been granted Emergency Utilisation Authorisation (EUA) in other countries, like Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson (J&J), in order to expand the domestic vaccine basket and increase the pace of vaccination. 

COVID-19 Cases In India

India reported a record single-day rise of 1,84,372 new coronavirus infections pushing the total tally of cases to 1,38,73,825, while the active cases surpassed the 13-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. The death toll increased to 1,72,085 with 1,027 daily new fatalities, the highest since October 18, 2020, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Registering a steady increase for the 35th day in a row, the active cases increased to 13,65,704, comprising 9.84 percent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 88.92 percent. The active caseload was at its lowest at 1, 35,926 on February 12 and it was at its highest at 10,17,754 on September 18, 2020.