A South Korean pharmaceutical company manufacturing Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine says it's bracing for business complications as the U.S.-led West escalates sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. Recently expanded U.S. sanctions include targeted measures against the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund run by a close ally of President Vladimir Putin that globally markets the Sputnik vaccines. Read:Ukrainian passport holders can seek UAE visas Kim Gi-young, an official from Seoul-based GL Rapha, said the sanctions won’t directly impede its production of the shots as the measures aren’t aimed at essential medical supplies. However, the company is concerned about potential problems rising from the financial side as South Korea joins the United States and many European countries in a move to cut off key Russian banks from global payment systems. “Right now, we are watching how the situation develops,” Kim said. GL Rapha has so far produced 5 million shots of the single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine, but none of them have been used so far as Russia continues to delay rollout plans, Kim said. Read:Indian students in Ukraine in fear as Russian invasion grows GL Rapha also has an agreement with RDIF to produce 150 million shots of the two-dose Sputnik V and is participating in a consortium of South Korean companies that has been contracted to produce another 500 million doses of Sputnik V, but these shots haven’t been produced yet. RDIF has reportedly criticized the U.S. sanctions and said the measures would slow its promotion of Sputnik V.

The Indian government on Friday gave permission to Serum Institute to produce Russian Covid-19 jab Sputnik V in the country, a development that could also help end vaccine shortage in neighbouring Bangladesh. The permission from India's drugs controller came two days after the country's leading vaccine maker sought its nod to manufacture the Russian Covid jab here. "We have got preliminary approval for Sputnik V. But actual manufacturing will take several months. In the meantime, our focus remains Covishield," a spokesperson for Serum Institute told the local media. Also read: Sputnik V production starts in India; 100 million doses to be produced annually Serum's Covishield is being widely used in both India and Bangladesh's mega inoculation drives. Bangladesh has inked a deal with Serum to buy 30 million doses of Covishield, but a recent surge in Covid cases in India has now made the delivery of the remaining doses uncertain. "However, if Serum manages to plug the gap in vaccine shortage in India, it will also be able to resume supply of the Covid jabs to Bangladesh. In that case, there will be no impediment from any official channel," government sources told UNB. On Thursday, Serum said that it sought permission from India's drugs controller to produce Sputnik V in this country as well as indemnity against legal proceedings linked to the use of its vaccines here. Also read: Sputnik V's Limited Rollout Begins In Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam Tomorrow "SII put up an application to the Drugs Controller General of India on Wednesday, seeking permission to manufacture Sputnik V in India," a company official had said. Another company official had told the media that all vaccine companies in India should get indemnity protection against liabilities "if foreign companies are granted the same". Serum's demand came in wake of media reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government could grant legal protection to foreign Covid vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna. Also read: Russian Vaccine Sputnik V: Things we should know to fight COVID-19 In a recent interview with a British daily, Serum's chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla had said that the company would increase the vaccine production capacity from the existing 2.5 billion to 3 billion doses a year within six months. India is currently witnessing a ferocious second wave of Covid-19. At the same time, an acute shortage of Covid vaccines has seriously hampered the country's mass inoculation drive. Prime Minister Modi rolled out the world's largest Covid vaccination drive in India on January 16. Covishield and local company Bharat Biotech's Covaxin are currently being given to citizens.

Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, listed as a third option on the CoWIN site and Aarogya Setu app, was administered today in a soft launch in Hyderabad that will be scaled up in coming days, read a joint statement from Apollo Hospitals and Dr Reddy's Laboratories. Sputnik V joins Serum Institute of India's Covishield and the indigenous Bharat Biotech's Covaxin in the immunisation programme that in the past few weeks has been hamstrung by a shortage of the vaccines. The exercise in Hyderabad will be followed by Visakhapatnam on Tuesday, the joint statement said. Read How to strengthen your immune system to prevent COVID-19 infections? The vaccinations would follow the SOPs as recommended by the government, including registration on CoWIN.   Sputnik V, marketed by Dr Reddy's Laboratories, was approved for use in India on April 12, 2021 and granted an emergency use authorisation, reports NDTV. "This pilot phase will allow Dr Reddy's and Apollo to test the arrangements and cold chain logistics and prepare for the launch. We are confident that with the Sputnik V vaccine, we will be able to make a significant contribution to ease availability and access to COVID vaccines to the community at large," said Dr K Hari Prasad, President, Hospitals Division, Apollo Hospitals. Also read: What does it feel like to get COVID-19 after taking the vaccine? After Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, the pilot program will be extended to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, and Pune, the statement said. "We are pleased to collaborate with Apollo Hospitals as part of our soft pilot launch of the Sputnik V vaccine in India. We are working to scale up the pilot and take the vaccine to other cities, and in the upcoming months we hope to inoculate as many Indians as possible," MV Ramana, CEO, Branded Markets (India & Emerging Markets), Dr Reddy's Laboratories said. The pilot project will administer doses from the first batch of 1,50,000 vaccines that arrived in Hyderabad on May 1. They were cleared for use on May 13. On Sunday, India received the second consignment of Sputnik V.   "The efficacy of Sputnik V is well-known in the world. Back in Russia, it is being successfully used to vaccinate citizens starting since the second half of 2020. Russian specialists declared that it is also effective against the new strains of COVID-19," Russian Ambassador to India, Nikolay Kudashev, said on Sunday.

The vaccine development for the COVID-19 has been moving at a record speed around the world. However, some companies have already seen success in less than a year. While some of the first world countries developed COVID vaccines, Russian did not lag behind. Therefore, the whole world was surprised when President Vladimir Putin approved the country’s first domestically developed vaccine Sputnik V in August 2020. Though many countries around the world were confused about the efficacy of Russian Vaccine Sputnik V, now 59 countries in the world approved this Coronavirus vaccine. Here we addressed some frequently asked questions about Sputnik V. What is Sputnik V? Sputnik V is Russia’s first approved COVID-19 vaccine. This vaccine entered limelight when Putin publicly approved it and stunned about the other countries who were still working to develop their vaccines. Who invented this? It was entirely developed and produced by the Gamaleya National Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, a Russian medical research institute, and operated under the purview of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Sputnik V was funded by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is widely known as Russia’s sovereign wealth fund. Read How to strengthen your immune system to prevent COVID-19 infections? What are the basics of Sputnik V? Sputnik V was developed based on the common idea. Gamaleya researchers used the commonly known viruses that cause colds as their vaccine prototype. Subsequently, they worked with the coronavirus spike protein gene and added two separate adenovirus vectors in it, such as rAd5 and rAd26. Further, the researchers engineered them to invade cells without replication. What is the working procedure of Sputnik V? Sputnik V works in six easy steps. In the first step, it is injected into a person’s arm. After that, the adenoviruses vector gets into the cells and can create a bar of proteins on the cells’ surface. The cell then put the virus in a bubble and then an adenovirus moves towards the nucleus. Next, adenovirus inserts its DNA in the nucleus, and adenovirus makes copies of itself. Further, the cells can read the coronavirus spike protein gene and copy it into a molecule “called messenger RNA or mRNA.” In the second step, mRNA leaves the nucleus and starts working on building spike proteins. The immune system recognizes the spike proteins. Afterward, the adenovirus excites the current immune system and switches them to the cell’s alarm system. Through the alarm system, Sputnik V makes the immune system respond strongly against the spike proteins. Also read: What does it feel like to get COVID-19 after taking the vaccine? In the third step, the system tries to spot the intruder. “When a vaccinated cell dies, the debris contains spike proteins and protein fragments.” Whenever such fragments are identified, a special kind of immune cell termed as, antigen-presenting cell absorbs those protein fragments. In the fourth step, the process of creating antibodies works. Different immune cells named B cell may come across with the coronavirus spikes and lock the spike proteins. The B cells are then triggered through help from helper T cells and pour out antibodies. Now the antibodies can work against the coronavirus spikes and work towards the destruction. Eventually, the antibody blocks the COVID-19 spikes and prevents infections. Read Safe Lifestyle in COVID-19 Lockdown: Do's, Don'ts, and Precautions If there is an infected cell in the body, the antigen-presenting cell calls an immune cell called a killer T cell to destroy any coronavirus cells.  How many doses of Sputnik V are needed? Two doses of Sputnik V are enough to create the antibodies and fight the virus. However, the doses need to take 21 days apart, and both doses use the same procedure. How many versions of Sputnik are available? After the success of the Sputnik V vaccine, the researchers worked harder to find out a more effective vaccination program. Nevertheless, they came up with a newer version of the vaccine, which is called ‘Sputnik Light,’ which is a single shot vaccine and claimed 79% effectiveness. How effective and safe is Sputnik V? According to the interim results’ data, Sputnik V has a 91.6% success rate. Besides, the data also shows that the vaccine does not have any significant side effects and it is totally safe. However, some mild side effects were reported, which was normal compared to the other available vaccines in the world. Read Can you mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccines? How much is Sputnik V? Initially, the price is set at $10 internationally. However, Russia has already approved many countries of the world to manufacture the Sputnik V vaccine remotely. Hence, the price may fall in the future. The Sputnik Light may cost less than $10. What is the storage procedure of this vaccine? Sputnik V needs to store at 2-8 degrees Celsius. Therefore, it is safe to transport and stored in any region of the world. Besides, it also comes in freeze-dried powder which makes it easier to store. How many countries approved Sputnik V? Russia has gone beyond the border to promote its invention. According to the latest data, minimum of 60 countries have approved the Russian Coronavirus Vaccine Sputnik V. What is more? This vaccine is ready to serve around 3 billion people globally, which is nearly 40% of the worldwide population. Indian, Bangladesh, Italy, China, UAE are among the 60 countries. Read New Covid strains won’t impact the efficiency of Russian vaccines, expert claims Does Sputnik V work against mutant variants? As soon as the new mutants emerged, Gamaleya’s researchers started working on that. A trial testing against the new mutants shows that the vaccine produces a strong result. However, it is not much effective against the South African variants but still works better than other vaccines. How is Russian Vaccine Sputnik V different from the other COVID-19 vaccines? Currently, there are at least eight COVID-19 vaccines available across the world. However, Russian COVID-19 Vaccine Sputnik V appears to be comparatively cheaper than other vaccines. Besides, the efficiency is relatively higher than other Covid vaccines. The newest Sputnik Light will certainly reduce the vaccination time length worldwide. Read The Latest: Sri Lanka receives 1st batch of Sputnik V shots

While at the Park House shopping mall in northern Moscow, Vladimir Makarov saw it was offering the coronavirus vaccine to customers, so he asked how long it would take. “It turned out it’s simple here — 10 minutes,” he said of his experience last month. But Makarov, like many Muscovites, still decided to put off getting the Sputnik V shot. Read Also: First batch of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine delivered to India Russia boasted last year of being first in the world to authorize a coronavirus vaccine, but it now finds itself lagging in getting its population immunized. That has cast doubt on whether authorities will reach their ambitious goal of vaccinating more than 30 million of country’s 146 million people by mid-June and nearly 69 million by August. The vaccine reluctance comes as shots are readily available in the capital to anyone 18 or older at more than 200 state and private clinics, shopping malls, food courts, hospitals — even a theater. As of mid-April, over 1 million of Moscow’s 12.7 million residents, or about 8%, have received at least one shot, even though the campaign began in December. That percentage is similar for Russia as a whole. Through April 27, only 12.1 million people have gotten at least one shot and only 7.7 million, or 5%, have been fully vaccinated. That puts Russia far behind the U.S., where 43% have gotten at least one shot, and the European Union with nearly 27%. Data analyst Alexander Dragan, who tracks vaccinations across Russia, said last week the country was giving shots to 200,000-205,000 people a day. In order to hit the mid-June target, it needs to be nearly double that. “We need to start vaccinating 370,000 people a day, like, beginning tomorrow,” Dragan told The Associated Press. To boost demand, Moscow officials began offering coupons worth 1,000 rubles ($13) to those over 60 who get vaccinated — not a small sum for those receiving monthly pensions of about 20,000 rubles ($260). Still, it hasn’t generated much enthusiasm. Some elderly Muscovites told AP it was difficult to register online for the coupons or find grocery stores that accepted them. Other regions also are offering incentives. Authorities in Chukotka, across the Bering Strait from Alaska, promised seniors 2,000 rubles for getting vaccinated, while the neighboring Magadan region offered 1,000 rubles. A theater in St. Petersburg offered discounted tickets for those presenting a vaccination certificate. Read Also: Bangladesh approves local production of Russian, Chinese Covid vaccines Russia’s lagging vaccination rates hinge on several factors, including supply. Russian drug makers have been slow to ramp up mass production, and there were shortages in March in many regions. So far, only 28 million two-dose sets of all three vaccines available in Russia have been produced, with Sputnik V accounting for most of them, and only 17.4 million have been released into circulation after undergoing quality control. Waiting lists for the shot remain long in places. In the Sverdlovsk region, the fifth most-populous in Russia, 178,000 people were on a wait list by mid-April, regional Deputy Health Minister Yekaterina Yutyaeva told AP. On April 28, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there are enough vaccines available in Russia, adding that demand was the defining factor in the country’s vaccination rate. Another factor in Russians’ reluctance over Sputnik V was the fact that it was rolled out even as large-scale testing to ensure its safety and efficacy was still ongoing. But a study published in February in the British medical journal The Lancet said the vaccine appeared safe and highly effective against COVID-19, according to a trial involving about 20,000 people in Russia. A poll in February by Russia’s top independent pollster, the Levada Center, showed that only 30% of respondents were willing to get Sputnik V, one of three domestically produced vaccines available. The poll had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points. Dragan, the data analyst, says one possible explanation for the reluctance is the narrative from authorities that they have tamed the outbreak, even if that assessment might be premature. With most virus restrictions lifted and government officials praising the Kremlin’s pandemic response, few have motivation to get the shot, he said, citing an attitude of, “If the outbreak is over, why would I get vaccinated?” Vasily Vlassov, a public health expert at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, echoed Dragan’s sentiment and also pointed to inconsistent signals from officials and media. Read Also: Bangladesh approves emergency use of Russian Sputnik V vaccine “Russians in 2020 were bombarded with contradictory messages — first about (the coronavirus) not being dangerous and being just a cold, then that it was a deadly infection,” he told AP. “Then they were banned from leaving their homes.” Another narrative, he said, was that foreign vaccines were dangerous but Russian-produced ones were not. State TV reported adverse reactions linked to Western vaccines while celebrating Sputnik V’s international success. A proper media campaign promoting vaccinations didn’t begin on state TV until late March, observers and news reports note. Videos on the Channel 1 national network featured celebrities and other public figures talking about their experience but didn’t show them getting injected. President Vladimir Putin said he received the shot about the same time, but not on camera. “Fruitful ground for conspiracy theorists,” said Dragan, who also works in marketing. Rumors about the alleged dangers of vaccines actually surged on social media in December, when Russia began administering the shots, and have continued steadily since then, said social anthropologist Alexandra Arkhipova. The rumors combined with other factors — the pseudoscience on Russian TV, vaccine distribution problems and an uneven rollout of the promotional campaign — to hamper the immunization drive, Arkhipova told AP. Vlassov, meanwhile, noted the outbreak in Russia is far from over, and there even are signs it is growing. “Roughly the same number of people get infected every day in Russia now as last May, at the peak of the outbreak,” he said, adding that twice as many people are dying every day than a year ago. Government statistics say infections have stayed at about 8,000-9,000 per day nationwide, with 300-400 deaths recorded daily. But new cases have been steadily increasing in Moscow in the past month, exceeding 3,000 last week for the first time since January. Read Also: Russia orders troop pullback but keeps weapons near Ukraine Infection rates are growing in seven regions, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on April 23, without identifying them. She blamed “insufficient vaccination rates” in some places. And yet, the abundance of vaccines in Moscow has attracted foreigners who can’t get the shot at home. A group of Germans got their first jab at their hotel last month. Uwe Keim, 46-year-old software developer from Stuttgart, told AP he believes “there are more vaccines available here in Russia than is demanded by the people here.”

The first batch of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine arrived in India on Saturday (May 01, 2021), a TASS correspondent reported. The vaccine was delivered to the airport of Hyderabad, the capital of the Indian state of Telangana, by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which oversees the project. Read Russia’s Gamaleya center works on technology to quickly develop coronavirus vaccines Sputnik V was the third vaccine, which will be used in India. So far, only two drugs were used for immunization: Covishield, developed by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, and also Covaxin of India’s firm Bharat Biotech. In February, Indian pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories applied for permission to use Sputnik V in India. The bid was approved in April. The company is ready to distribute the Russian vaccine. RDIF has also reached an agreement on manufacturing the vaccine with several Indian pharmaceutical companies. The vaccine earlier passed interim trials in India, which involved 1,600 volunteers. Read Bangladesh approves local production of Russian, Chinese Covid vaccines India's Ambassador to Russia Bala Venkatesh Varma said earlier this week that New Delhi expected to get some 150,000-200,000 Sputnik V doses by early May, some 3 mln doses by the end of the month and 5 mln doses by June. The Russian vaccine arrived in India on the day when the new stage of a national vaccination campaign is set to kick off among all citizens over 18 years of age. Until May 1 only Indian citizens above 45 were able to get the jab. However, the authorities in some states announced that the vaccination among citizens of between 18 and 44 years of age would begin as soon as there was the sufficient volume of drugs. Read Myanmar registers Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine Russia was the first in the world to register coronavirus vaccine on August 11, 2020, called Sputnik V. The drug was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. The drug has been registered in many countries. Sputnik V is a vector vaccine based on the human adenovirus.

The Palestinian Authority sent the first shipment of coronavirus vaccines to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Wednesday, two days after accusing Israel of preventing it from dispatching the doses amid objections from some Israeli lawmakers.

Russia’s Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology works on the technology accelerating the creation of a novel coronavirus vaccine in case of rapid genomic alterations of the infectious agent, Alexander Gintsburg, the head of the Sputnik V vaccine center, said in a televised interview with Rossiya-1 news channel, an excerpt of which was aired on the channel on Friday.

The Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V has been registered in Myanmar, according to the Twitter account of Sputnik V.

Developers of Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine on Thursday called on British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to try combining its experimental shot with the Russian one to boost efficacy.