Sputnik V coming soon in these cities; Bengaluru, Mumbai among 9 places as part of limited pilot roll-out

New Delhi, June 19: The much awaited made-in-Russia vaccine Sputnik V for COVID-19, will soon be available in nine Indian cities.

After a successful pilot launch in Hyderabad, Dr Reddy's Laboratories said that it has now been successfully scaled up to cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Delhi, Baddi, Kolhapur and Miryalaguda.

The Indian drug-maker recently received nearly three million doses of Sputnik V.

Dr Reddy's in an announcement on Wednesday said, "The limited pilot launch of the Sputnik V was started in Hyderabad on May 14 and is being extended to nine cities.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories has informed in a press release that the pilot phase will allow us to test cold storage arrangements at minus 18 degree in these nine cities apart from COWIN integration, track and trace and other logistical requirements ahead of our commercial launch.

The company also said that registration on CoWIN is yet to be made available to the public once the shot is commercially launched.

''The soft launch was done in Hyderabad on May 14 and has been scaled up to include 9 other cities," the company said.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories is in a pact with Russian Direct Investment Fund to sell the first 125 million people doses (250 million vials) of SputnikVin India.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet approved the vaccine for emergency use but Hungary and Slovakia were the latest to give emergency use approval to the vaccine. More than 60 nations have given the vaccine emergency use approval.

The data of the Ministry of Health also demonstrates that 98.6% of all COVID-19 cases 14 days after receiving the second dose were mild among those vaccinated with Sputnik V.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said: "Sputnik V has demonstrated efficacy of 94.3% and high safety confirming the data collected in a number of other countries where it is used to protect the population against coronavirus. The Russian vaccine is an important part of Bahrain's diversified national portfolio. Use of Sputnik V is making a significant contribution in mitigating the spread of coronavirus, resuming normal life and economic activity."

The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a proven and well-studied platform of human adenoviral vectors, which cause the common cold and have been around for thousands of years.

Sputnik V uses two different vectors for the two shots in a course of vaccination, providing immunity with a longer duration than vaccines using the same delivery mechanism for both shots.

There are no strong allergies caused by Sputnik V.

The storage temperature of Sputnik V at +2+8 C means it can be stored in a conventional refrigerator without any need to invest in additional cold-chain infrastructure.

The price of Sputnik V is less than $10 per shot, making it affordable around the world.