Hyderabad: The Hyderabad International Airport received the largest commercial consignment of Sputnik V vaccines at 03:40 early on Tuesday morning with three million doses delivered to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories was delivered.
This is the third group and the largest single import shipment of COVID-19 vaccines handled to date by any Indian airport.
The vaccinations will later be sent to different parts of the country according to the demands made by the state governments. After COVISHIELD and COVAXIN, Sputnik-V will be the third COVID-19 vaccine that will be administered to the people.
Sputnik has a bond with Dr. Reddy’s vaccine manufacturing laboratories in India. The first consignment of Sputnik landed in India on May 1, but the regulatory approval of the Central Drugs Laboratory-Kasauli was only given on May 13.
On May 14, Dr. Reddy’s Sputnik V launched in the Indian market. The first dose was administered on the same day in Hyderabad. The pharmaceutical company said that the imported doses of the vaccine were priced at a maximum selling price (MRP) of Rs 948. Combined with 5 percent, it costs 995.4 Rs per dose.
The government is also hopeful of a speedy introduction of single-dose COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik Light and all stakeholders, including the Russian manufacturer and its Indian partners, have been instructed to track the application and regulatory approval procedures for the jab to promote the country’s vaccination.
Just like COVISHIELD manufactured by AstraZeneca-Oxford in India COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik-V is also based on a modified version of a cold virus. According to The Guardian report, Russia’s vaccine against the novel coronavirus has been adapted in a way to make genetic instructions for making the coronavirus prick protein and ‘triggers and immune response’ for protection against COVID-19.
Source: The Siasat Daily