India To Receive First Batch of Russia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Sputnik V on May 1

According to Kirill Dmitriev, the Head of Russia’s Sovereign Health Fund, India will receive its first batch of Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V on May 1. However, any specification regarding the number of vaccines to be delivered in the first batch or where they would be made has not been clarified as of now.

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It must be noted that Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund has been marketing Sputnik V on a global level. Moreover, agreements with five leading Indian manufacturers for over 850 million doses of the vaccine a year have already been signed. According to the RDIF, it expects the production of the Covid-19 vaccine in India to reach 50 million doses on a monthly basis by the summer and increase further.

With Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine on its way, the government of India has waived off customs duty on the import of vaccines in addition to medical grade oxygen & related equipment. As of now, other globally-acclaimed vaccine manufacturers such as Johnson & Johnson and Moderna have been asked to seek emergency use approval in India. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week had an interaction with vaccine manufacturers of the country via video conference. During this virtual meeting, the PM had asked the vaccine manufacturers to continuously increase their production capacity so that all the Indians get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Earlier on Monday, Pharmasyntez, the renowned Russian pharmaceutical firm had said that it was ready to ship up to 1 million Remdedesivir antiviral drug packs to India by end-May, once it receives approval from the Russian government.

This comes as India crosses the 28lakh-mark of active Covid-19 cases.