Production of Sputnik V in India is expected to be gradually ramped up to produce 850 million doses per year, said Russian Ambassador to India N. Kudashev on Sunday.
The envoy said Sputnik V is a “Russian-Indian vaccine”, adding that they expect its production in India to be gradually increased, news agency ANI reported.
He also added that there are plans to introduce a single-dose vaccine soon in India, called ‘Sputnik Lite’.
Emphasising on the effectiveness of the vaccine, Kudashev said its efficacy is “well-known in the world”.
“In Russia, it’s being successfully used to vaccinate citizens starting since 2nd half of 2020. Russian specialists declared it’s also effective against new Covid-19 strains,” he added.
Meanwhile, the second batch of Sputnik V arrived in Hyderabad on Sunday.
The first consignment had landed in India on May 1 after regulatory clearance from the Central Drugs Laboratory.
The vaccine is likely to be available in the market from next week, the Centre had said on Thursday amid a severe vaccine shortage.
On Friday, Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, the local partner for the vaccine, had soft-launched Sputnik V in India with imported doses, which would cost Rs 995 per shot.
A top executive at Dr Reddy’s told CNN-News18 Saturday that India will receive a total of 250 million doses of Sputnik V over the next 8-10 months and its production here is expected to begin from July.
Deepak Sapra, CEO, API & Services at Dr Reddy’s, also said that once the India-manufactured product is available, the pricing for the vaccine will be different. Sapra also took the first shot of the vaccine in Hyderabad on Friday.
At 91.6 per cent, Sputnik V has a higher efficacy as compared to the two Covid-19 vaccines that are currently being administered in India: Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.