With the rise of covid 19 cases, the need for vaccines surged immediately. The government has targeted to vaccinate all the citizens of the country. First, the Covishield which is produced by the Serum Institute of India which is based in Pune, and Covaxin which is produced by Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad was approved by the Indian Drug Regulator for energy usage. Now, the third vaccine has been given a nod for authorization usage which is the one made in Russia- Sputnik V.
Russia-based Sputnik V is tested and proven to be used for vaccination purposes. The vaccine has been studied on a human platform of adenoviral vectors and it uses two different vectors for the two shots given during a course of vaccination. This vaccination claims to give longer immunity as compared to the existing two vaccines even though the delivery for both the shots is the same as done by Covishield and Covaxin.
The joint statement was issued by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and pharmaceutical firm Panacea Biotech on May 24 which said that the production of Sputnik V, which is the covid 19 vaccine has been granted emergency use authorization, has been launched in India. The first batch of doses of vaccines will be transported to Moscow-based Gamaleya Centre for “quality control”.
This first dose will be produced at the facility of Bharat Biotech which is at Baddi, a place in Himachal Pradesh. The full-scale production of Sputnik vaccines is aimed to start in the summers as till then the facilities of the company will meet the standards of GMP and will be prequalified by the World Health Organization.
The launch of Sputnik V production in India has been a very important step in the battle of the country against the COVID 19 crisis.
According to the Managing Director of Panacea Biotech, Dr. Rajesh Jain, the pharmaceutical company according with RDIF is aiming to help the government and the countrymen in having a sense of normalcy back, a routine life which has been lost past 1 year to be back. The company aims to help not only India and its people but also the world. 
According to the chief executive officer of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, the production of Sputnik V in India will help the country who is already putting in all the efforts to “leave the acute phase of the coronavirus as soon as possible”. He further said that at a later stage, when the condition in India is under control, the vaccine will be then exported to other countries of the world to help them fight the coronavirus.
The vaccine- Sputnik V has been registered under the emergency use authorization procedure on April 12, 2021, and it was announced that 100 million doses per year of Sputnik V will be given by RDIF and Panacea Biotech. RDIFhas also made its partnership with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories which is based out of Hyderabad in order to have local production and distribution of the vaccine.
Sputnik has registered in 66 countries globally and has a proven efficiency of 97.6% based on the data of the infection rate among those people who got vaccinated after receiving both the doses of Sputnik V between December 5, 2020, to March,31,2021.
Vaccine makers have been in a lot of news for the past few days and let us see what the future holds on for India and its people.
