India gets 3rd Covid-19 vaccine as expert panel approves emergency use of Dr Reddy's Sputnik V

New Delhi, Apr 12: As more states flag shortage of COVID-19 vaccine doses amid a spike in cases, India got a third vaccine as the Subject Expert Committee (SEC), approved emergency use of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine in the country.

The expert panel of India's central drug authority had earlier this month sought additional data and information from drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories, which has sought emergency use authorisation for the Russian COVID-19 vaccine.

The data was sought on six specific points including "unblinded data of all Serious Adverse Events and RT-PCR Covid-19 positive cases along with causality analysis reported till date for further examination".

''It is a two dose vaccine. You take the first dose on day zero and the second one on day 21. The peak immunity develops somewhere between day 28 to day 42," Deepak Sapra, the Pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories CEO, APIs and Services, earlier said.

So far, India has granted emergency use authorisation to indigenously made Covaxin, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, and Oxford University-Astrazeneca's vaccine, manufactured by Serum Institute of India under the brand name Covishield.