The world over, people are finally heaving a sigh of relief with reports of various vaccines coming out and being proven to be effective against the deadly COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus. Countries like UK, USA, Russia, Canada and Bahrain have already started vaccination drives for the people they have prioritised to receive the vaccine first - namely the healthcare workers, doctors, medical professionals and the aged people. The Western countries have so far approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine and recently USA became the first nation to approve the usage of the Moderna COVID vaccine. However, the Sputnik V vaccine, developed jointly by the Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). 

Now, we have reports that the Head of the RDIF - Kirill Dimitriev has reportedly told the media that India will produce 300 million doses or more of the Sputnik V vaccine, in 2021! He had stated that of the 110 vaccine producing sites that negotiated for the manufacturing of the Sputnik V vaccine, the RDIF had chosen 10 that suited their requirements. Dimitriev also added, "The Russian Sputnik V will be actively produced in the world and we see that this is built on a safe platform based on the human adenovirus." Earlier, Dimitriev had stated that the production of Sputnik V had already begun in countries like India, Korea, China and Brazil.

Sometime back, one of India's biggest pharma companies - Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, had applied for permission from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), to manufacture the Sputnik V vaccine, in India. On August 11th, Russia had become the first country in the world to register a COVID vaccine, when it approved the Sputnik V vaccine candidate! This vaccine had passed the first 2 phases of the clinical trials in June-July. Following this, the post-registration studies began in Moscow on September 7th with the initial volunteers being given the first dose of the vaccine on September 9th. The Phase 3 clinical trials are still underway in some countries. Stay tuned for further updates...