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India will produce about 30 crore doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines next year, a Russian official was quoted as saying, nearly three times the previously known number as deals have been signed with more manufacturers.
Russia is already testing the first samples of Sputnik V that were produced in India, its embassy in New Delhi said on Twitter on Friday, sharing a news story https://tass.com/world/1236777/amp in which their vaccine czar Kirill Dmitriev was quoted.
“In India, we have agreements with four large manufacturers,” Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) told Rossiya 24 TV, according to news agency TASS.
“India will produce about 300 million (30 crore) doses or more of the vaccine for us next year.”
Also read: Covid-19: Experts from friendly nations trained for clinical trials of Indian vaccine
India is the world’s biggest vaccine maker and its pharmaceutical industry is freeing up capacity and accelerating investments ahead of the global rush for Covid-19 shots.
India’s Hetero Biopharma has already announced a deal with the RDIF to make more than 10 crore doses of Sputnik V, whose efficacy has been found to be more than 91 per cent in trials done outside India.
It was not immediately clear which other Indian companies would make the vaccine, though Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd is conducting clinical trials of it in India and will also distribute the finished vaccine.
Also read: Covid-19: Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine confirms 91.4% efficacy
Indian officials have said they may approve some vaccines for emergency use authorisation in the coming weeks. So far only three vaccines from Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech and Indian company Bharat Biotech have applied for urgent approval.
The health ministry on Friday reported 22,890 new coronavirus infections in India, taking its total to just shy of one crore. It is the world’s second-worst affected country after the United States, which has recorded 1.69 crore cases.
India’s deaths rose by 338, taking the total to 144,789.
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