The central government informed the Lok Sabha on Friday that India is in contact with Russia to advance trials of the COVID-19 vaccine – Sputnik V – in the country, according to the news agency. PTI. India is “exploring the possibility of cooperation between the two countries to promote the COVID-19 vaccine in the country,” the news agency reported.
The Central Medicines Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) reported that it had received information about a COVID-19 vaccine developed and approved in Russia, Health Minister Ashwini Choubey al Lok Sabha reported.
Russia was the first country in the world to register a COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing. Developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Ministry of Defense, the vaccine is currently in the phase III trial of the vaccine, which involved more than 40,000 people in more than 45 medical centers in Russia. TASS news agency reported
Earlier this week, the Russian Direct Investment Fund signed an agreement with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to conduct a clinical trial and distribution of Sputnik V in India. Under the agreement, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund will supply 100 million doses of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine to the Indian pharmaceutical company. Both the trials and the supply agreement depend on approval from the central drug regulator. If the trials are successful, the vaccine will be available in India later this year.
The government plans to use the mechanism of the universal immunization program for the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines after receiving approval from the drug regulator, the union’s health minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday in a statement to the Lok Sabha.
“Once available, the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine follows the same route as the current practice of vaccine distribution under the Universal Immunization Program (UIP),” Vardhan said in a written statement.
Currently, there are three COVID-19 vaccine candidates that are in human trials in India. “At the national level, both industry and academia are developing about 30 candidate vaccines. These vaccines are in different stages of preclinical and clinical development, of which three candidates are in an advanced stage of phase I trials / II / III and four are in an advanced stage of preclinical development, “Vardhan said.
How safe is Sputnik V?
The Russian Ministry of Health claimed that the coronavirus vaccine offers long-lasting immunity against the virus. The vaccine is expected to provide immunity against the coronavirus for up to two years, according to the health ministry.
Early results from trials of Russia’s potential coronavirus vaccine show no major negative side effects, a study published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet revealed.
“The two 42-day trials, which included 38 healthy adults each, found no serious adverse effects among participants and confirmed that vaccine candidates elicit an antibody response,” the study authors wrote.
“The human adenoviral vector platform, which is the core of the Russian vaccine, has been tested in more than 250 clinical studies over decades and has been found safe with no potential long-term negative consequences.” the official said.
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