India to begin Sputnik V production in August; to produce 850 mn doses

India is slated to begin production of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V in August. The country is expected to manufacture 850 million Sputnik V doses. The Indian envoy to Russia has stated around 65-70% of total Sputnik V vaccines manufactured in the world would be produced in India.

Indian Ambassador to Russia DB Venkatesh Varma announced at a press conference that India would be manufacturing 850 million doses of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine.

On Saturday, the Indian envoy to Russia interacted with journalists in St Petersberg. They discussed Sputnik V, S-400 missiles and the COVID-19 situation in India. The envoy noted that Russia had already supplied 1,50,000 plus 60,000 Sputnik V doses to India. He added that by the end of May, three million more Sputnik V doses will be supplied in bulk to the country.

"Those would be filled in India. It's called fill and finish. In June, this number is expected to increase to 5 million. And production in India will start in August," Varma said.

He added that the current plan is to manufacture 850 million Sputnik V doses in India. "About 65-70% of the total number of Sputnik V vaccine doses produced anywhere in the world will be from India," he said.

"Sputnik will be produced in India in three phases. First, supply from Russia - fully made - which has already started. Second, RDIF will send to India in bulk. It will be ready for use but it will have to be filled in various bottles in India," the Indian envoy to Russia further explained.

Varma also discussed the Sputnik Light single-shot vaccine. He said, "The Russian side has also proposed Sputnik Light. The regulatory approvals for that in India are still not completed. But once those regulatory approvals are given, Sputnik Light will be one more area of cooperation between India and Russia."

Earlier on May 14, Dr Reddy's Laboratories had soft-launched the Sputnik V vaccine in India, pricing it at Rs 948 per dose with an additional five per cent GST. So far, India has imported the Sputnik V vaccine doses in two batches.

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