By the summer, more than 60% of all foreign production of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus may come from India. The ambassador of the republic to the Russian Federation Venkatesh Varma told Izvestia about this., adding that in the near future the Russian side will provide other medical assistance to the Indians. This will be of great help for a country experiencing a powerful outbreak of COVID-19. and fixing 350 thousand new cases daily. Moreover, Russian manufacturers are ready to ship up to 1 million packs of Remdeform by the end of Mayused in the treatment of COVID-19, the press service of the company told Izvestia.
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From health to death
By the spring, the situation with the coronavirus in India began to improve, and many restrictions were lifted in the republic in March., and traditionally mass religious festivals and political rallies returned to the lives of citizens. It was this activity, as many in the country are sure, that predetermined the inevitability of a new outbreak.
Already by the end of last week, the daily number of new cases of coronavirus in India jumped to 350 thousand, and the number of deaths on Monday alone exceeded 2800, which became an absolute anti-record for the entire time of the pandemic and brought the total mourning statistics to 195 thousand deaths and 17 million infected.
Now There are not enough hospital beds and oxygen across the country to treat COVID-19 patients. In some places, even such simple drugs as paracetamol have disappeared from sale.… India has recently banned the use of oxygen for non-medical purposes, but posters appear at hospital entrances warning that new patients cannot be admitted due to lack of oxygen. And even those Indians infected with COVID-19, who, for money or through connections, manage to secure a place in the hospital for themselves, cannot get there in time due to the lack of a confirming positive test for coronavirus – laboratories are so overwhelmedthat it takes about three days to get results.
– We were again put under lockdown until May 3. A special police permit is required for weddings and funerals. The streets are dead again. Although here and there people are storming hospitals, every now and then there are clashes with the police. Not only is there not enough oxygen, but also firewood – to burn corpses, – one of the local residents described to Izvestia the disastrous situation in New Delhi.
On April 16, India, which managed to deliver its drug Covidshield to 95 countries of the world (both within the framework of the COVAX initiative and bilaterally free of charge or for money), completely curtailed the export of vaccines for their own needs… But the other day it became obvious that the country does not have enough drugs for the coronavirus.
To date, only 141 million vaccinations have been made in the 1.3 billion country, and less than 2% of the population has been fully vaccinated with two doses. The other day The Indian Ministry of Health has optimistically promised that from May 1, vaccines will be available to all residents over 18 years old – which is almost 900 million people. But Serum Institute of India, the country’s main vaccine manufacturer, immediately admitted that this goal was unattainable in such a short time.…
We will help you as much as we can
Against this background, aid from abroad is becoming vital for India, which has already been promised to it not only by the EU countries and the United States, but even not the most friendly China and Pakistan. Of course, Russia did not stand aside either.
– There are intensive contacts between India and the Russian Federation to resolve the COVID problem, and the Russian side will provide medical assistance in the near future. Since the beginning of May, cooperation in the field [выпуска] Sputnik V will be significantly expanded, and by the summer more than 60% of the world’s production of this vaccine will come from India– Indian Ambassador to Russia Venkatesh Varma told Izvestia.
The country approved the application for the emergency use of the Russian vaccine against coronavirus on April 12, and as Venkatesh Varma assured Izvestia back in January, the drug produced in India jointly with Russia will play a very important role in the vaccination process in the republic. Earlier, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) agreed to produce more than 850 million doses of vaccine per year with Indian pharmaceutical companies…
RDIF did not provide a prompt comment on Izvestia’s request. Earlier in an interview with CNN, the head of the fund, Kirill Dmitriev, said that India would receive the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. “The first doses will certainly arrive on May 1,” he said.
Recently Indian The media reported that Moscow is ready to send medical oxygen cylinders to New Delhi, as well as a batch of the drug Remdesivir, which is widely used to treat coronavirus.…
Against the background of its shortage in the country, prices for this medicine have jumped 10 or even 20 times on the black market, sometimes reaching $ 1000 per bottle. In Russia, the release of this drug, named Remdeform, began at the beginning of the year – this required a special government order, which allowed the Russian Pharmasintez group of companies to release the drug without the consent of its creator and patent owner, the American Gilead Sciences.… For the first time, the “compulsory licensing” stipulated by Russian legislation had to be applied in practice because, according to the president of Pharmasintez, a Russian of Indian origin Vikram Punia, Gilead left the license request unanswered.
But in such a drug approval system, there was also a weak link – according to a number of Indian newspapers, the Americans have already reacted by noting that the export of the drug without a license could entail US sanctions…
However, at the Pharmasintez company, Izvestia made it clear that the problem can be solved…
– We have a great desire to help the Indian fraternal people in great trouble. Pharmasintez is ready to ship up to 1 million packs of the drug Remdeform by the end of May (INN “Remdesivir”) to India, which is now most in demand in the treatment of coronavirus infection, if there is a legal basis, – the press service of the company told Izvestia.
Such legal grounds, according to the company’s logic, could be a license for the export of the drug, issued by the Russian government at the request of the Indian authorities, or the immediate implementation of supplies as part of Russia’s humanitarian assistance India.