'Sputnik V' Production Begins in India, Delhi Firm Panacea Biotec Set to Produce 100 Mn Doses a Year

Giving a boost to the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive in India, one of the country’s leading vaccine and pharmaceutical firms joined hands with Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and launched the production of Sputnik V in India on Monday.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund in collaboration with Delhi’s Panacea Biotec will produce 100 million doses of Sputnik V, the world’s first registered vaccine against coronavirus, every year, RDIF said in a statement.

The first batch produced by Panacea Biotec’s facilities at Baddi will be shipped to the Gamaleya, the Moscow institute which developed the vaccine, for quality check. The Indian manufacturer’s facilities comply with GMP standards and are prequalified by the World Health Organisation (WHO), read RDIF’s statement.

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

“Launch of production in India in partnership with Panacea Biotec marks an important step in helping the country fight the pandemic. Production of Sputnik V supports efforts of India’s authorities to leave behind the acute phase of coronavirus as soon as possible while the vaccine will also be exported at a later stage to help prevent the spread of the virus in other countries around the world,” RDIF CEO Kirill Dmitriev said.

“This marks a significant step as we initiate production of Sputnik V. Together with RDIF, we hope to help bring a sense of normalcy back to people across the country and around the world,” Panacea Biotec MD, Dr Rajesh Jain, said.

So far, Sputnik V has been registered in 66 countries across the world with a total population of over 3.2 billion people. Efficacy of the vaccine is stated to be 97.6%, according to a data on the Covid-19 infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V.

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