Sputnik V to Begin Production in India from Aug, 3 Mn Doses Will be Supplied by May- end
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Russia: Russia will soon give India the technology to manufacture the Sputnik V vaccine locally, amid
increasing demand for the doses. The vaccine will begin production in India from August, said the country’s
envoy to Russia, DB Venkatesh Varma, on Saturday.
He added that by end of May, above three million doses will be supplied in bulk, and in June the number
is expected to increase to five million. “The plan is to produce 850 million doses of the vaccine in India
initially," Varma said. The Russian vaccine manufacturers have collaborated with Dr. Reddy’s in India
and have already supplied over two lakh doses to India. “Sputnik V has already supplied 150,000 doses and
then 60,000 doses to India," the envoy said.
Sputnik V has been approved to be imported from Russia but is yet to be widely available in the country.
The company had said the imported doses of the vaccine are presently priced at a maximum retail price of
Rs 948, with 5 percent GST per dose, amounting to Rs 995.4 per dose. Only three vaccines have been
approved to be sold in India — Covaxin, Coveshield, and Sputnik V. The first consignment of imported
doses of the vaccine from the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) landed in India on May 1 and received
regulatory clearance from the Central Drugs Laboratory. Reddy’s Laboratories had earlier in the month
soft-launched imported Covid-19 vaccine, with Deepak Sapra, a senior executive of the drug-maker,
taking the first shot.
