PremiumA hospital in Patna, Bihar has placed an order for up to 3,000 doses of the 'Made in Russia' Sputnik Covid vaccine as it has an efficacy rate of above 90%, a doctor said.
Arun Kumar, Medical Director of Jay Prabha Medanta Hospital, Patna gave two reasons for more use of Sputnik, he said, first, the Russian vaccine is over 90% effective and another Covishield and Covaxin are available for free at government hospitals.
Dr Kumar said, "We are using Sputnik for vaccination due to its efficacy which is 92% as per scientific reports. Secondly, Covishield and Covaxin are available for free at government hospitals, no point in duplicating that (vaccinating the same at private hospitals)".
He also informed that the hospital had ordered only 600 doses but owing to good public response, the hospital ran out of stock in just three days.
"We had ordered only 600 doses of Sputnik, but it's surprising to see the public response. It's not even 3 days and we are out of stock. We have ordered another 2000-3000 doses," added Kumar.
Russia's Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology has developed Sputnik V and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is marketing it globally.
However, Dr Reddy's Laboratories is the marketing partner for Sputnik V in the country, and, has been importing the shots from Russia.
The Centre has fixed the price of the vaccine at ₹1,145 per dose.
According to Gamaleya and the RDIF, Sputnik V has demonstrated an efficacy rate of 92%.
Taking to Twitter, the official handle of the Russian vaccine on Tuesday affirmed that Sputnik V's efficacy is better on the Delta variant of COVID-19 than any other vaccine that has published results on the strain so far.
"RDIF: #SputnikV is more efficient against the Delta variant of coronavirus, first detected in India than any other vaccine that published results on this strain so far-- the Gamaleya Center study submitted for publication in an international peer-reviewed journal," Sputnik V on Tuesday tweeted.
Sputnik V uses two different viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus) in humans. It employs a different vector for each of the two shots, given 21 days apart.
Sputnik V soft-launched on May 14 in Hyderabad. Soon, it will be available in several other Indian cities, including Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi.
Sputnik V has been accepted by several countries with Argentina claiming that the vaccine has helped save millions of lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet approved the vaccine but more than 60 countries have given the vaccine emergency use approval.
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