Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, which is being produced in India by Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, has now reached 50 towns and cities across India.
In a statement, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has said that the nationwide soft launch of the Sputnik V vaccine has covered over 50 cities and towns, including Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi NCR and Chennai.
The Sputnik V vaccine was launched on a soft pilot basis in India on May 14 and Dr Reddy’s plans to further strengthen the commercial roll-out of the Russian Covid-19 vaccine in the coming weeks.
“Neither the ongoing soft commercial launch, nor work towards its ramp-up in India have been put on hold,” said Dr Reddy’s Labs in its latest statement.
After starting out in Hyderabad, the Sputnik V vaccine has also reached Vizag, Navi Mumbai, Miryalaguda, Vijayawada, Baddi, Kolhapur, Kochi, Raipur, Chandigarh, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Coimbatore, Ranchi, Jaipur, Lucknow and Patna.
The vaccine is also being administered in Bhubaneshwar, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Palakkad, Allahabad, Dimapur, Kohima, Indore, Bhopal, Surat, Cuttack, Dharwad, Ernakulam, Ratlam, Faridabad, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Vadodara, Gulbarga, Madurai, Guntur, Kannur, Jabalpur, Jalandhar, Kanpur and Mysore.
Dr Reddy’s has partnered with major hospitals across the country.
Meanwhile, a study has claimed the Russia-made Sputnik V vaccine is effective against new variants of Covid-19. The research paper by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology was published in a leading international medical journal on July 12.
According to The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the study was conducted to determine the Sputnik V vaccine’s neutralizing capacity against new variants of SARS-CoV-2.
The study’s findings show that the Sputnik V vaccine has been able to produce protective neutralizing titers against new variants. These include the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and more importantly, the Delta variant, which has been identified as one of the key drivers of the second wave of Covid-19 infections in India.
