Russia to Jointly Produce Sputnik V COVID-19 Vaccine With India

This announcement comes at a time when the India has announced that vaccination drive is likely to start in January.

Currently Sputnik V Phase III clinical trials are approved and are underway in Belarus, the UAE, Venezuela and other countries, as well as Phase II-III in India.

(Photo: Xinhau/IANS)

The Russian envoy to India Nikolay Kudashev announced on Monday, 21 December, that Moscow and New Delhi will jointly produce that Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories.

"We are working very hard to fight COVID-19 together with India, and are now advancing to jointly produce Sputnik V vaccine at the capacities of Dr Reddy's Laboratories to be used in India, Russia and other countries," Kudashev said, addressing a press conference, reported news agency PTI.

On 11 August, the Sputnik V vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology was registered by the Ministry of Health of Russia and became the world's first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vector platform.

“We have supported each other in a big way earlier this year when we managed to repatriate thousands of Russian and Indian nationals to their respective home countries,” he said.

This announcement comes at a time when the Union Health Ministry has announced that vaccination drive is likely to start from January.

Sputnik V vaccine has reportedly shown 92 percent efficacy in preventing COVID-19, according results announced by the country’s health ministry.

In September 2020, Dr Reddys and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) into a partnership to conduct clinical trials of Sputnik V vaccine and its distribution in India. RDIF is expected to supply 100 million doses of the vaccine to the pharma giant upon regulatory approval in India.

(With inputs from PTI)