India to get first doses of Sputnik V vaccine by May 1

New Delhi: The Russian Direct Investment Fund will deliver the Sputnik V vaccine to India as it battles the second wave of coronavirus, RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said on Monday. Dmitriev, in an interview with CNN on Monday, said that the first doses will arrive in India on May 1. He also stated that India would be one of the key producers of Sputnik V.

Meanwhile, Indian doctors are looking forward to getting access to Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine soon, Senior Director of the center for Chest and Respiratory Diseases at New Delhi’s Super Specialty Hospital Dr Sandeep Nayar told TASS Newsagency on Tuesday.

“The Sputnik vaccine has a very good study and very good backup, so I’m hoping that we have that vaccine too as early as possible,” Tass reported, quoting Senior Director of the Center for Chest and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi’s Super Specialty Hospital Dr. SandeepNayar.

At present, India is using two coronavirus vaccines, Covishield, developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, and Covaxinmade by India’s Bharat Biotech for vaccinating its citizens.

Sputnik V, the world’s first registered coronavirus vaccine, has been approved for emergency use in 60 countries across the globe. According to an interim analysis from the trial published in The Lancet, the vaccine has 91.6 per cent efficacy.