Amid a crippling shortage of COVID vaccines in the country, the Centre has given its approval to use Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for emergency use. This will be the third COVID vaccine to be approved for use in India, apart from Astrazeneca-SII's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
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The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) on Monday took up the application of Dr Reddy's Laboratories seeking emergency use authorisation for Sputnik V. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) will take a final call on the recommendation. The vaccine would be imported from Russia for emergency use in the country.
The Sputnik V, which has an efficacy of 91.6 per cent, will be manufactured by Dr. Reddy's in India. In addition to Dr Reddy's, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which developed the vaccine, has tied up with a host of Indian pharma companies such as Hetero Biopharma, Gland Pharma, Stelis Biopharma and Vichrow Biotech for the production of Sputnik V. So far, RDIF has signed deals for 850 million doses.
India hit a new coronavirus infection record with 1,68,912 new cases, the highest single-day rise so far, taking the total tally of cases to1,35,27,717, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The active cases have surpassed the 12-lakh mark, while thedeath toll increased to 1,70,179 with 904 daily new fatalities, the highest since October 18, 2020, the data showed.
At the same time, several states have complained of widespread vaccine shortage in the country. According to news reports, in places such as Nainital and Tehri Garhwal in Uttarakhand, Rajsamand and Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, Sitara and Panvel in Maharashtra and Morena in Madhya Pradesh, mass Covid-19 vaccination drive had to be stopped midway as centres ran out of stock, officials said.
Shortages were also reported from other places such Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar, forcing state governments to scale down their daily vaccination targets.
Several chief ministers, including Rajasthan’s Ashok Gehlot, Maharashtra’s Uddhav Thackeray, Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab’s Amarinder Singh, informed the Centre about the vaccine shortages and sought immediate replenishment of stocks to meet new targets set by the Central government.
