Sputnik V, the COVID-19 vaccine from Russia, has been given ‘Emergency Use Authorisation’ in India by a panel of experts. It is the third vaccine Indian authorities have given approval to after Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine.
The approval on Monday was given by the Subject Expert Committee. The regulator Drug Controller General of India will have to give a final nod for wider use of the doses on all citizens.
Russian Direct Investment Fund or RDIF is behind the Sputnik V vaccine. The vaccine will be produced in India under a pact between RDIF and Indian Pharma companies like Dr. Reddy’s, Virchow, Stelis Biopharma, and Panacea Biotec. The pacts were already in place, given that India is the hub of global manufacturing of vaccines. Around 750 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine are expected to be produced in India.
Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in New Delhi.
On a question about Sputnik V vaccine approval, he said, “I do not rule out that further cooperation in this area could encompass vaccine production in Russia. Specialists should discuss it and proceed on the basis of the maximum effectiveness of such cooperation.”
Sputnik V is already registered in more than 59 countries. The efficacy of the two-shot vaccine is over 91.6%. According to RDIF.
“The cost of one dose of the vaccine for international markets is less than $10 (Sputnik V is a two-dose vaccine).”
The vaccine can be stored at a temperature of +2 to +8 degrees Celsius. The vaccine is named after the first Soviet space satellite.
