A health worker shows the Sputnik V Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine (AFP)
NEW DELHI: As the Indian ambassador to Russia, DB Venkatesh Varma, announced Saturday that local production of the Sputnik V vaccine will begin in August, diplomatic sources here said the 2 countries were looking at manufacturing anywhere between 35 to 40 million doses every month starting August-September.
Elaborating on the remarks by the ambassador, sources said Russia will also send close to 18 million Sputnik doses – 3 million in May, 5 million next month and 10 million in July – before allowing transfer of technology in August for local production.
Overall, according to the ambassador, the agreement between Dr Reddy’s and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) will facilitate manufacturing of 850 million doses of Sputnik vaccine in India.
“More than 65-70 percent of the Sputnik vaccine produced anywhere in the world will be from India,” said Varma in an interaction with local journalists during a visit to St Petersburg.
He said Russian side had also proposed Sputnik Light, a single-shot vaccine. “The regulatory approvals for that in India are still not completed. But once those regulatory approvals are given, then Sputnik Light will be one more area of cooperation between India and Russia,” he said.
Of the scheduled delivery of 3 million doses in May, Russia has so far provided 210,000 doses in 2 separate consignments. According to sources, Russia is hoping to account for some of its vaccine commitments to other countries with large-scale production in India once the situation eases here. The double-dose Sputnik vaccine has so far been approved by 65 countries.
With an efficacy of 97.6%, the vaccine is expected to play a major role in expediting India’s vaccination programme. According to RDIF, the efficacy is based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V from December 5, 2020 to March 31, 2021. Efficacy of Sputnik Light is said to be 79.4 percent, based on the analysis of data on the coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia who were vaccinated with the single-dose vaccine from December 5, 2020 to April 15, 2021.
According to TASS news agency, India is also working to provide Russia sample of the Indian variant of Covid-19 that originated in India for research.
“The request has been received by the Indian side. Indian authorities are working on that,” Varma was quoted as saying.
