The pilot launch of the Sputnik V that was initiated first in Hyderabad has now been scaled up to many cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai among others. The option to register for the COVID-19 vaccine doses will be available on CoWIN portal after its commercial launch, the pharma company said. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) on Wednesday said that the soft launch of the Sputnik V Coronavirus vaccine in India.
With the second wave of virus fainting, the experts have predicted that the third wave may attack the country in September-October. In order to protect the country from the wrath of the third wave, the country has started vaccinating the citizens in full fledge. The country recorded 62,224 new Covid-19 cases and 2,542 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the country’s overall caseload rose to 2.96 crore, while the death toll surged to 3.62 lakh. Kerala is the top contributor, adding 12,246 new cases to the country’s caseload. The newly infected cases of the Covid-19 reported in the country in the last 24 hours are 212 in Delhi, 830 in Mumbai, 1,611 in Bengaluru, 377 in Kolkata and 689 in Chennai. India started its vaccination against the Covid on January 16, 2021. By now, almost 207,830,971 i.e. 15.2% population of the country has successfully been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine whereas 47,474,395 people i.e. 3.5% of the population is fully vaccinated. Several parts in the country already started unlocking the states.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has partnered with Rockwell Industries to enable the storage of the Sputnik V vaccine in its freezers across India. The company has also signed an agreement to partner with Snowman Logistics for the nationwide distribution of Sputnik V, which is expected to begin later this month. Dr Reddy’s had launched the vaccine commercially in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam on a pilot basis on May 14 but had not started distributing Sputnik V nationwide due to lack of doses and adequate cold storage infrastructure for the vaccine. Sputnik V requires storage at temperatures of -18 degree Celsius.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Dr Reddy’s had signed an agreement in 2020 to collaborate on clinical trial and distribution of Sputnik V vaccine in India. Dr Reddy’s has exclusive marketing and distribution rights for the first 250 million doses of Sputnik V vaccines in India. The first phase of a limited pilot vaccination programme was conducted by Apollo Hospitals and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories on May 17 in Hyderabad and on May 18 in Vishakhapatnam. The Central Government has capped the price of Sputnik V at private hospitals at Rs 1,145. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), earlier on June 10, announced that the efficacy of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine based on a vaccination campaign by Bahrain’s Ministry of Health was estimated to be 94.3 per cent. According to the analysis of data from 3.8 million vaccinated persons in Russia, Sputnik V has demonstrated 97.6 per cent efficacy.
In a high-level meeting, the state health department informed Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray hat a highly virulent “Delta plus” variant of the Coronavirus could stoke the third wave in Maharashtra. After which, the CM ordered senior doctors and officers to ensure medicines and health equipment were available across urban and rural areas in order to tackle any such situation.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also unveiled an action plan as the national capital gears up for a possible third wave. Many other states/UTs have already started preparation for the next wave of Coronavirus infections. Gujarat is strengthening its health infrastructure, with a special focus on children. The state government has set up a statewide control system for real-time updates on hospital beds and other related services. It is also planning to fill up all the vacancies in medical facilities and boost testing. In order to get ready for a possible next Covid-19 wave, Kerala, too, has announced a two-pronged strategy – increasing vaccination coverage and strengthening pediatric health infrastructure. Telangana has also begun strengthening infrastructure at all pediatric hospitals.
