Covid-19: Russia likely to launch Sputnik Light in India by December
New Delhi: The Russian Direct Investment Fund on Wednesday informed that Sputnik light COVID-19 vaccine will likely be launched in India by December this year.
Addressing a press conference, the CEO of Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev said, "We are hopeful for the launch of Sputnik light in India in December and we are working very well with Indian institutes."
"We have Serum institute as our production partner in India, and we believe that Sputnik light will play a big role in the Indian vaccination campaign," he added.
Earlier in the day, the Sputnik V informed that Russia's Health Ministry will register the Sputnik vaccine for children aged 12-17, with shots expected to be available at the end of December.
"Russia's Health Ministry will register Sputnik vaccine for children aged 12-17. Sputnik M vaccine for children will be a welcome member in the Sputnik family both in Russia and in global markets," Sputnik V said in a tweet.
This came as Russia has been grappling with a surge in coronavirus infections and related deaths in recent weeks.
The country has registered 33,558 new confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the lowest number since October 16, with the total number of infections reaching 9,434,393 cases, according to data of the anti-coronavirus crisis centre published on Wednesday.
Besides, India reported 9,283 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. With this, the active caseload of the infection in the country stands at 1,11,481, which is the lowest in 537 days.
Read also: Covid-19: Sputnik jab proves ineffective against resistant Russians
Sputnik Light, a single dose COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. The vaccine consists of the first dose of the Sputnik V, which is based on the Ad26 vector. It can be stored at a normal refrigerator temperature of 2–8 °C (36–46 °F).The institute says this version would be ideally suited for areas with acute outbreaks, allowing more people to be vaccinated quickly. It will also be used as a third (booster) dose for those who received Sputnik V at least 6 months earlier.
Next Story