India’s expert medical panel has approved Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V for emergency use in India. The news came a day after a highly reliable source claimed that India can get 5 more vaccines by the end of the third quarter this year.

Details:

The panel of Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) nodded the application of Hyderabad based Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories that sought emergency use authorization for the Russia based COVID-19 vaccine.

If the DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India) approves the vaccine, Sputnik V will officially be the third vaccine that will be used in India against its fight against the COVID-19 virus.

Background information

The approval of Sputnik-V comes at a time when several states have been reporting both surge in COVID-19 cases, and lack of vaccines for their states. Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh are accounting 82% of the country’s overall caseload. Meanwhile the vaccination drive is in full swing.

Currently the second phase of vaccination is going on where people above the age of 45 are encouraged to take vaccinations.

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Vaccination effort so far:

On Saturday, April 10th, the MoHFW released a statement saying India has administered over 10 crore COVID-19 doses since the beginning of the drive. It took the country 85 days to achieve this landmark as the drive started on January 16 this year. With this feat, India became the world’s fastest country to have achieved the 100 million+ vaccination mark. Other than India, only USA and China have given over 100 million doses. It took USA 89 days to do so while China took 103 days.

Everything you should know about Sputnik V

Developed by

Sputnik V was developed by the Russian Defence Ministry and Gamaleya Research Institute. The vaccine is named after the Soviet-era satellite, Sputnik V which helped USSR fight against USA during the ‘space war’. The vaccine was first approved in Russia for emergency use in August 2020.

Efficacy rate:

In September 2020, the RDIF (Russia Direct Investment Fund) and Hyderabad based pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories partnered to conduct the clinical trials of the vaccine here in India.

The third phase of the trials saw 14,964 participants in the vaccine group along with 4902 in the placebo group getting two jabs 21 days apart.

The people who took part were tested for the COVID-19 virus at the beginning of the trial and once again when they were administered the second shot.

For the second dose, there were 16 cases of symptomatic COVID-19 that were confirmed from the vaccine group while 62 were in the placebo group. By the end of the clinical trial, The Lancet reported that the Sputnik V has an efficacy of 91.6%.

Manufacturing partnership with:

Along with Dr. Reddy, Virchow Biotech LTD, Stelis Biopharma LTD, Panacea Biotec, all have struck partnership with RDIF to manufacture 200 million, 200 million and 100 million doses per year respectively.

Can be stored at 2-8 degrees

The developers of the vaccine have claimed that the vaccine is made in such a way that it can endure temperatures so that it can be transported to difficult regions. Sputnik V can be stored at a temperature of +2 to +8 degree Celsius.

Uses 2 adenoviral vectors

As for the working of the vaccine, the Sputnik V makes use of 2 different strains of adenovirus. Adenovirus is commonly a virus known to cause common cold. According to the makers of the vaccine, using adenovirus for vaccination drops the otherwise significantly higher risk immune system carries of developing resistance.

A 2-shot vaccine

Just like AstraZeneca/Oxford and Bharat Biotech COVID-19 vaccines, the Sputnik V is also a 2-shot vaccine. The difference between the first dose and the final dose is recommended to be of 21 days. One may develop the peak immunity against COVID-19 by the 28th and the 42nd day.

Related story:

India to get vaccines from 5 more manufacturers; includes Sputnik V, Johnson & Johnson