India will likely start production of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine 'Sputnik V' by August, said Indian envoy to Russia Bala Venkatesh Varma on Saturday. He also said that three million more doses of the vaccine will be supplied to India by May end.
Varma further said, "For Sputnik, 1,50,000 doses plus 60,000 doses already supplied to India. By May-end, about 3 million more doses will supply in bulk. In June, the supply expected to increase to 5 million and production in India expected to start in August."
"Russian side has also proposed Sputnik Lite. The regulatory approvals for that in India are still not completed. But once those regulatory approvals are given, Sputnik Lite will be one more area of cooperation between India and Russia," he added.
The Russian vaccine manufacturers in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories have already supplied over two lakh doses to India. Indian envoy further said, "The present plan is that over 850 million doses of the Sputnik vaccine will finally be produced in India. Almost 65-70% of Sputnik produced anywhere in the world will be from India, finally. All these three put together will be about 850 million doses."
Sputnik V will supply in India in 3 phases. First, supplies from Russia – fully manufactured – which have already started. Second, RDIF will send the vaccine to India in fill and finish mode. In the third phase, the Russian side will transfer the technology to the Indian company and the company will produce it entirely in India.
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