The first batch of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine has arrived in India. On May 1, India Today reports.
The vaccine was delivered to the airport of the city of Hyderabad, the consignor of the cargo is the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). The drug will be sent for regulatory approval and then redistributed for vaccination.
Two vaccines against coronavirus are already in use in India: Covishield from the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and Covaxin from the Indian company Bharat Biotech.
Sputnik V is the third vaccine to be used in India.
He was brought to India on the day of the start of a new phase of the national vaccination campaign, when all citizens over 18 years of age will be allowed to be vaccinated. Until May 1, only those over 45 years old were vaccinated.
RDIF announced the decision of the Comptroller General of Medicines of India to register the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine on April 12.
On April 28, RDIF agreed to produce 850 million doses of the vaccine in India. On the same day and the next, Russia sent humanitarian aid to the country. Two flights of the Ministry of Emergency Situations delivered more than 22 tons of cargo to New Delhi, including dozens of devices for generating oxygen, ventilators, medical monitors and medicines.
Ambassador to Moscow Bala Venkatesh Varma said earlier this week that New Delhi expects about 3 million doses of the drug to be available in the country by the end of the month, and 5 million doses in June.
On May 1, it became known that India recorded a new daily record for the number of cases of COVID-19 – 401 993. These figures exceeded the previous anti-record, which was recorded the day before.
Sputnik V became the first coronavirus vaccine registered in Russia and the world. It was developed at the N.F. Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology.
According to the head of the Gamaleya center that developed the drug, Alexander Gunzburg, the Russian drug is also effective against the Indian strain, which was identified in March. Sputnik V, as a result of booster vaccination, creates a very high supply of virus-neutralizing antibodies, Gunzburg said.
All relevant information on the situation with the coronavirus is available on the websites of stopcoronavirus.rf and accessvsem.rf, as well as by the hashtag #WeVotte. Coronavirus hotline: 8-800-2000-112.