Sputnik V shots may hit market by month end

NEW DELHI: With the first consignment of 1.5 million doses of Russia’s Sputnik V already in India, many private hospitals, as well as some state governments, are in talks with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to finalise contractual agreements to procure doses that may become available for use by the end of the month, reports Sushmi Dey.

Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Labs is the marketing firm for the imported jabs in the country and has conducted local bridging studies for Sputnik V in India.

Apart from the 1.5 million doses that came on May 1, a second consignment with almost equal quantity is expected by end of this month.

Overall, India will get 18 million doses of Sputnik V, three million in May, five million in June and 10 million in July, an executive said.

The first consignments of Sputnik V are likely to start reaching private hospitals by end of this month. Apart from Sputnik V, supplies of existing vaccines are also expected to increase over the next few months.

Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) is set to increase monthly production of Covishield to 10 crore doses next month.

Besides, Covaxin production is likely to increase to 6 crore doses by August, as compared to around 1 crore now.

The government along with Bharat Biotech has also drawn up a plan to further ramp up its production by involving some of the public sector units to raise production.

The pipeline of expected supplies assumes significance as vaccination slots continue to be limited, particularly for the 18 plus population while Covid-19 infected cases are still high. (TNN)