Sputnik V, Russia's COVID-19 vaccine has got Emergency Use Authorization from the Subject Expert Committee, making it the third vaccine to be approved in India. How far will the vaccine help India that is grappling with the second wave and a severe vaccine shortage fight COVID-19?
There is a lot of buzz about when Sputnik V will be available in India. “Although the timelines aren't clear yet, we believe that it may take a month or two for the Sputnik vaccine to be available on ground,” says Dr Trupti Giladia, an Infectious Disease Specialist at Masina Hospital, Mumbai.
''So their benefit can only be seen only eight weeks after mass immunization begins. However, they will definitely be required to prevent future waves and mortality,'' explains Giladia.
Sputnik V requires two doses three weeks apart. The vaccine comes in two forms. ''In the liquid form, it requires a storage arrangement of -18 degrees C and in the powdered form it requires a temperature storage of 2-8 degree C. It can, therefore, be stored in regular refrigerators and does not require an additional cold-chain infrastructure. This makes it very conducive to the Indian healthcare infrastructure as well,'' says Giladia.
''Every health centre across the country has basic refrigeration facilities that are used for our vaccination drive like polio etc. It is therefore not difficult for our infrastructure to handle a vaccine like Sputnik,'' she adds.
How well does the vaccine work? It offers 92 per cent protection against the infection and complete protection against hospitalization and death. These results were published in Lancet journal, says Giladia.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has tied up with several Indian manufacturers to make almost 850 million doses of Sputnik V annually.
Sputnik V has been approved in Argentina, Belarus, Hungary, Serbia and the United Arab Emirates, besides India and Russia.
