India To Receive First Batch Of Russia's COVID-19 Vaccine Sputnik V On May 1

The first batch of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 will reach India on May 1, according to Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. He, however, did not confirm where the vaccines would be made and how many vaccines will be there in the first batch.

Due to the huge surge in the COVID-19 cases in India, the country is struggling. Many countries like Germany, United States and Britain have decided to send urgent medical help to India.

Dmitriev said that he hoped that the Russian supplies would help India to navigate its way out of the pandemic in some time and informed about the delivery of the vaccine saying, "The first doses will be delivered on May 1."

Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund has signed agreements with five Indian manufacturers for more than 850 million doses of the vaccine for a year. RDIF sovereign fund has been marketing the Sputnik V vaccine globally.

According to RDIF, it expects the production of the vaccine in India to go up to 50 million doses in a month and to rise even further by the summer.

As the WHO was planning to provide extra supplies including oxygen concentrator devices and staff to India, the chief of the organisation described the situation in the country as "beyond heartbreaking".

On Monday, April 26, Russia's pharmaceutical firm Pharmasyntez said that it was ready to ship up to about 1 million packs of the Remdesivir antiviral drug to India by the end of May. The shipment will start after getting the approval of the Government of Russia.

In January this year, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) gave the authorisation of emergency use of two vaccines namely Covishield of Oxford-AstraZeneca manufactured in India by Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin developed and produced by Bharat Biotech. The DCGI also gave its approval to the Russian vaccine Sputnik V earlier this month.