India To Get 5 More COVID Vaccines By Oct: Report

The central government has revealed that by the end of the third quarter of this year, India will receive atleast five more additional vaccines, ANI reported.

As quoted by top government sources in an ANI report, "India currently has 2 COVID-19 vaccines being manufactured locally: Covishield and Covaxin, and we can expect five more vaccines by Q3 2021. These vaccines are Sputnik V vaccine (in collaboration with Dr. Reddy's), Johnson & Johnson vaccine (in collaboration with Biological E), Novavax vaccine (in collaboration with Serum India), Zydus Cadila's vaccine, and Bharat Biotech's Intranasal Vaccine. Safety and efficacy are the Union government's primary concerns while granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to any COVID-19 vaccine in the country."

The report mentioned that Sputnik V vaccine will get the first approval likely within ten days. Sputnik-V has the capacity to produce atleast 850 million doses to fight against COVID-19.

Moreover, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has made an agreement with Hyderabad based Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Hetero Biopharma, Gland Pharma, Stelis Biopharma, and Vichrow Biotech for the production of vaccine doses.

"Sputnik is expected to be available latest by June, if all goes well Johnson and Johnson ( Bio E) will be available by August, Cadilla Zydus will also be available by August, Novavex (Serum) by September, and Nasal Vaccine (Bharat) by October," the ANI report said.