India to Get 5 More Covid Vaccines by October, Sputnik V Clearance Likely in 10 Days: Report

By the end of the third quarter of this year, India will recieve Covid-19 vaccines from five additional manufacturers, ANI has reported, citing top government sources.

India currently manufactures Covishield and Covaxin.

“India currently has 2 COVID-19 vaccines being manufactured locally: Covishield and Covaxin, and we can expect five more vaccines by Q3 2021. These vaccines are Sputnik V vaccine (in collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s), Johnson & Johnson vaccine (in collaboration with Biological E), Novavax vaccine (in collaboration with Serum India), Zydus Cadila’s vaccine, and Bharat Biotech’s Intranasal Vaccine. Safety and efficacy are the Union government’s primary concerns while granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to any COVID-19 vaccine in the country,” the sources told ANI.

The report said out of the almost 20 vaccines in various clinical and pre-clinical stages, Sputnik V vaccine would receive approval first; within the next ten days. CNN-News18 had recently reported that Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against may get authorisation in India very soon.

For the manufacturing of vaccine doses, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has partnered with a number of Indian pharmaceutical companies, including Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Hetero Biopharma, Gland Pharma, Stelis Biopharma, and Vichrow Biotech.

Sputnik V will provide a big boost in the war against Covid-19, with a production capacity of 850 million doses in the country.

“Sputnik is expected to be available latest by June, if all goes well Johnson and Johnson ( Bio E) will be available by August, Cadilla Zydus will also be available by August, Novavex (Serum) by September and Nasal Vaccine (Bharat) by October,” the source said, on when the vaccines would be available for use.

According to the source, the government is making every effort to accelerate progress without cutting any corners in the research, production, and clinical trial stages.

The development comes amid many states reporting vaccine shortages in the country.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 10 crore. A total of 10,15,95,147 vaccine doses have been administered through15,17,963 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.

These include 90,04,063 healthcare workers who have taken the first dose and 55,08,289 HCWs who have taken the second dose, 99,53,615 frontline workers who have received the first dose, 47,59,209 FLWs who have taken the second dose.

Besides, 3,96,51,630 and 18,00,206 beneficiaries more than 60 years old have been administered the first and second dose respectively, while 3,02,76,653and 6,41,482 beneficiaries aged 45 to 60 have taken the first and second dose respectively.

Eight states account for 60.27 per cent of the total doses given so far in the country. Over 35 lakh vaccination doses were administered in a span of 24 hours.

As on Day-85 of the vaccination drive (April 10), 35,19,987 vaccine doses were given. Out of which, 31,22,109 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 42,553 sessions for first dose and 3,97,878 beneficiaries received the second dose of the vaccine.

“In terms of the number of daily doses administered globally, India continues to remain at the top with an average of 38,34,574 doses administered per day,” the ministry said.

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