India might grant emergency use authorisation to Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine this month or the next.
"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," Kirill Dmitriev, Russian Direct Investment Fund chief told ANI. Russian Direct Investment Fund (Russia's sovereign fund) is marketing Sputnik V vaccine in foreign countries.
Earlier, The Lancet had stated that Russia's experimental COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V is 91.6 per cent affective against coronavirus infection. These results are based on Phase 3 trials of the vaccine in which 20,000 people had participated.
"The data published by The Lancet shows that Sputnik V is one of only three vaccines in the world with the efficacy of over 90 per cent but outperforms them in terms of safety, ease of transportation due to storage requirements of 2 to 8 degrees, and a more affordable price. Sputnik V is a vaccine for all mankind," Dmitriev added.
Russia was the first country to officially launch a COVID-19 vaccine, it did so back in August 2020. Sputnik V vaccine has been developed by Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian defence ministry.
"The Russian vaccine is based on a well-researched human adenoviral vector platform which has proven to be safe, with no long-term adverse effects in more than 250 clinical trials over decades," said Dmitriev.
The Russian COVID-19 vaccine is unique as it uses two different human adenoviral vectors for delivery of outer coat genetic material of the coronavirus to the human body. "This approach provides for creation of a stronger and long-term immunity as compared to vaccines, using one and the same component for both doses," Dmitriev added.
Also read: Pichai, Nadella, other tech CEOs congratulate Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy for new roles
Also read: Who is Andy Jassy, the next CEO of e-comm giant Amazon?