Russia is sending another 1.5 lakh doses of Sputnik V vaccine in the next two days while another 30 lakh doses will be arriving in Hyderabad with Dr Reddys Laboratories by the end of this month.
Russia has decided to ramp up the production of vaccine to more than 50 lakh next month and 1 crore by July, a report in The Hindustan Times said.
The first consignment of 150,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine landed in Hyderabad from Russia on May 1. Dr Reddys Laboratories which has tied up with Russian Direct Investment Fund for the vaccine said in a statement that the initial quantity will be used across different channels as a pilot to line up the supply chain for the larger vaccination program rollout.
Russia is also sending at least four medium oxygen generating trucks, which can feed a 200-bed hospital after being plugged into the power supply. These trucks produce 70 kilograms of oxygen per hour and 50,000 litres per day so that there is no paucity of oxygen at the hospital to which they are attached.
In September 2020, Dr. Reddys and RDIF entered into a partnership to conduct clinical trials of the SputnikV, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and the rights for distribution of the first 100 million doses in India.
Later it was enhanced to 125 million. Dr Reddys has already received approval from Indian drug regulator for restricted emergency use of Sputnik V in India on April 12.
“New Delhi and Moscow are constantly in touch with each other through the diplomatic channels so that medical support is available on demand as much as possible,” an Indian diplomat reportedly said.
Currently the Centre has rolled out a nationwide vaccination drive using two COVID-19 vaccines — Covaxin of Bharat Biotech and Covishield of Oxford-AstraZeneca, manufactured by Serum Institute of India in Pune. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in a tweet said that Hyderabad customs expedited the clearance of the COVID-19 vaccine imported from Russia.
On August 11, 2020, Russia became the world’s first country to register a coronavirus vaccine, dubbed as SputnikV.
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