Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine approved for restricted use in India

The Indian expert panel on Monday approved Sputnik V vaccine developed by Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia for restricted emergency use in the country. Sputnik V is the third vaccine which had received approval from the Indian drug authorities. Currently, India has been using Serum Institute’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for inoculating the citizens as part of the vaccination program which is considered one of the largest in the world.

The approval to Russia’s Sputnik V was given based on a “very strong immunogenicity data” shown by the vaccine. However, an official statement regarding this yet to be issued.

Sputnik V has been Considered as one of the most effective and affordable vaccines in the world with 91.6 % effectiveness and a price of less than $10 per shot.

The vaccine has been developed by Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian defense ministry.Russia was the first country to give regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine in August after less than two months of human testing.

“The data published by The Lancet shows that Sputnik V is one of only three vaccines in the world with the efficacy of over 90 per cent but outperforms them in terms of safety, ease of transportation due to storage requirements of 2 to 8 degrees, and a more affordable price. Sputnik V is a vaccine for all mankind,” Kirill Dmitriev, Russian Direct Investment Fund chief said.

The vaccine, ‘Sputnik V’, named after the world’s first satellite launched by the Soviet Union during the cold war era, has successfully completed the phase III trial in which 20,000 participants inoculated the jabs.

“The Russian vaccine is based on a well-researched human adenoviral vector platform which has proven to be safe, with no long-term adverse effects in more than 250 clinical trials over decades,” said Dmitriev.

In India Sputnik V vaccine is being manufactured by Dr Reddy’s Lab, Hyderabad, in collaboration with Russia’s Gamaleya National Centre. Dr Reddy’s Lab had last month received approval from the Drugs Control General of India (DCGI) to conduct phase III clinical trial for the Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19.

“Sputnik V is already registered in 16 countries including Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Argentina, Bolivia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Republic of Guinea, Tunisia and Armenia,” according to The Lancet’s paper.