Major relief to India’s COVID vaccination drive: Sputnik V vaccines arriving on May 1

May 1, 2021

As several states, including Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and some others saying they do not have sufficient COVID-19 vaccine doses for the inoculation of those in the 18-44 age group, the first lot of Sputnik V vaccines from Russia will arrive in India on May 1 (Saturday), giving a much-needed boost to the country’s mega vaccination drive.
Sputnik V vaccine, which is developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia, has an effectiveness of 91.6 per cent against coronavirus.
The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had given permission to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) to import Sputnik V vaccines in India for restricted use in emergencies.
The drugs controller had given its approval to Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, known as Covishield, which is being produced by Serum Institute of India (SII), in January 2021.
Later in April, the DCGI paved the way for India to rollout Sputnik V against coronavirus infections.
The central government said that it has so far provided more 16.33 crore COVID vaccine doses to states/UTs free of cost and over 1 crore doses are still available with the states/UTs to be administered. More than 19 lakh doses in addition will be received by the states/UTs in the next 3 days, the government assured.

Meanwhile, the union ministry of health and family welfare stated that the total vaccination across the country has crossed more than 15.48 crore mark. The country administered more than 26 lakh vaccine doses till 8 pm today.
Notably, India is set to kickstart its third phase of COVID-19 vaccination drive for all adults in the country from May 1, however, almost all the states have deferred the inoculation for the 18-45 age group due to a shortage of vaccine doses.