First Batch Of 1,50,000 Sputnik V Covid Vaccine Doses To Arrive In India Today

In a boost for India's nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive, the first lot of 1,50,000 doses of Sputnik V is set to land in Hyderabad where the consignment will be handed over to Dr Reddy's Laboratories, reports Hindustan Times.

The flight carrying the first consignment of Sputnik V vaccine left Russia this morning and will arrive in India later in the day.

According to the report, it is expected that in India will receive as many as three million doses from Russia in the month of May.

Thereafter, India is likely to receive another five and ten million doses of the vaccine from Russia in June and July, respectively.

Based on human adenoviral vectors, Sputnik V is one of the only three COVID-19 vaccines so far in the world which has an efficacy of over 90 per cent. The vaccine was given the regulatory clearance for emergency use in India on 12 April.

It is a two-dose vaccine developed by Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. The vaccine is backed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) which is the sovereign wealth fund of Russia.

RDIF has also tied up with several Indian pharmaceutical majors to produce hundreds of millions of doses per annum of the vaccine in India.