Russian Sputnik V
Serum gets govt nod to produce Sputnik vaccine in India
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.
First batch of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine delivered to India
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.