Russia's Sputnik V Vaccine Over 91% Effective Against Covid-19, India May Approve Emergency Use By Next Month

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which markets the shot abroad, said the vaccine has been approved in 16 countries and the company expected it to touch 25 by late next week.

Covid-19 Vaccine Update: With vaccination programme against Covid-19 being rolled out across the country after five states getting the innoculation implemented in the first phase, India is now expected to grant emergency use authorization for Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine this month or next. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which markets the shot abroad shared the details with news agency ANI.

On Tuesday, Russian scientists gave its nod to the vaccine which was found to be 92% effective based on peer-reviewed late-stage trial results. The Russian vaccine is comparable with the efficacy of other vaccines from reputed firms that have been cleared for emergency use in various countries, such as those from Pfizer (95%), Moderna (94.1%) and Oxford-AstraZeneca (up to 90% under a certain regimen).

India has already implemented inoculation of almost 40 lakh people since mid-January in the world’s biggest immunization campaign, and aiming to vaccinate over 30 crore people by August.

“India is a key partner in terms of production of vaccine and we expect that there’ll be a restricted emergency use order for the Sputnik V vaccine this month or next. After that we will be able to start our vaccine delivery to India,” said RDIF chief Kirill Dmitriev.

In January, an independent board in India found the Sputnik V shot to be safe in a mid-stage trial. RDIF said the late-stage clinical trials also showed strong efficacy and safety. The vaccine has been approved in 16 countries and the company expected it to touch 25 by late next week. “Vaccines should be beyond politics,” sad the CEO, adding that they were open to partner and improve vaccines that had efficacy below 90 per cent.

At present, RDIF has an alliance with the AstraZeneca-OxfordUniversity vaccine.

So far, 10.8 million people have been infected and over 154,000 have succumbed due to the virus. On Tuesday, India reported 8,635 new cases of Covid-19 which is the lowest since June last year.

Meanwhile Hetero Biopharma has already announced a deal with the RDIF to make more than 10 crore doses of Sputnik V and Indian drugmaker Dr. Reddys, which has conducted clinical trials, will help in distributing the vaccine.

This development comes amid controversy among scientific community surrounding the Sputnik V’s approvals and registration being too rushed. However, some European countries are presently evaluating the vaccine for its population. This has also come at a time when there is supply shortages of vaccines from AstraZeneca and Pfizer, a sore-point between the authorities in Europe and these companies.