Sputnik V will be available at government vaccination sites soon

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Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V will soon be available free of cost at government-run vaccination centres across the country, said Dr N K Arora, Chairperson, Covid-19 Working Group. Moderna’s vaccine got approval last week and is expected to reach India over the next week. Pfizer is yet to apply for emergency use authorisation, while Zydus-Cadila’s ZyCOV-d, which has filed for emergency use authorisation, is expected to get its results soon. India has now four Covid-19 vaccines so far, including Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Serum-AstraZeneca’s Covishield.

Sputnik V: The story so far

Priced at almost Rs 1,000 per dose, Sputnik V became the first foreign-made Covid-19 vaccine that was introduced in India. It was soft-launched in Hyderabad, following which it was made available in several private hospitals across India. Dr Arora added that depending upon its supply it will soon be offered under the Centre’s free vaccination programme.

Sputnik V needs to be stored at a temperature of -18°C. Dr Arora said that a cold chain facility that is used in preserving polio vaccines would be used in its storage and that will ensure it reaches far-flung places in rural India.

India’s vaccination roadmap

Dr Arora also said owing to the ongoing polio drive, the pace of vaccination has slowed down in certain regions, but things will be streamlined in the upcoming weeks, and the vaccination drive will pick up the pace.

Over 34 crore vaccine doses had been administered so far, and according to the Centre’s schedule, another 12 to 16 crore doses should be administered by the end of July which will take the figure to close to 50 crores.

Covaxin and Covishield remain the top two vaccines in India’s arsenal. Sputnik, Moderna and Zycov-D are waiting in line. With a ramped-up production, India could see daily inoculation figures go from 50 lakh/day to even 80 lakh-1 crore/day in the coming weeks. India’s main target is to successfully vaccinate everyone over the age of 18 by the end of this year. With the possibility of the potential of the third wave hitting India in February-March 2022, we have a window of 6-8 months to achieve the target of vaccinating the adult population.