Gurugram’s Fortis hospital begins Sputnik V trial run for public

Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram has begun the trial run of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V for the general public.

According to the Centre’s pricing schedule, the maximum price of the two-dose vaccine has been fixed at Rs 1,145, which will include hospital charges and tax.

Presently, three COVID-19 vaccines – Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V are being used in the country for the nationwide inoculation drive.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, the marketing partner for the Russian-manufactured vaccine in the country, has been importing the doses from Russia.

In May, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and Panacea Biotec, one of the leading vaccine and pharmaceutical producers in India,launched the production of the Russian vaccine.

A study recently said that the Russian vaccine is more efficient against the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 which is said to be responsible for the deadly second wave in India.

RDIF had last month announced that the efficacy of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine during a vaccination campaign by Bahrain’s Ministry of Health was estimated to be at 94.3 per cent.

Over a period of time, the Russian vaccine is going to be produced domestically.

Sputnik V was granted approval for emergency use in India on April 12 and vaccination against coronavirus with the Russian vaccine started on May 14.

The RDIF and Panacea have agreed to produce 100 million doses per year of Sputnik V.

India is the 60th country to approve Sputnik V which ranks second among coronavirus vaccines globally in terms of the number of approvals issued by government regulators. Other countries that have approved the use of Sputnik V include Argentina, Bolivia, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Mexico, Pakistan, Bahrain and Sri Lanka.

The Russia-made vaccine needs a storage temperature of 2-8 degree C, implying it can be stored in conventional refrigerators without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure, making storage and transportation easy.

“Sputnik V is indicated for active immunization in individuals ≥ 18 years of age and must be administered intramuscularly in 2 doses of 0.5 ml each with an interval of 21 days,” the Union Health Ministry said. Times Now