Sputnik V gets SEC approval

New Delhi : The Russian vaccine, Sputnik V gets a green signal from the Subject expert committee (SEC) for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA). It is the third Covid -19 vaccine that is getting approved in India.

If sources are to be believed, the SEC has given their approval for Dr Reddy’s application for EUA to Sputnik V.

The decision has been finalized at a meeting of the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI)’s SEC. They were discussing on the Sputnik V application for EUA in India.

Last week, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has received the government’s approval for the vaccine to be used in India. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) along with Dr Reddy’s conducted clinical trials of Sputnik V in India in September 2020.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, the drugmaker, provided additional data to DCGI on its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine trial.

At the present time, India is producing two Covid-19 vaccines. One is the locally-made Oxford Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covishield’ of Serum Institute of India and the other is the indigenously made ‘Covaxin’ of Bharat Biotech.

The sources from the government on Sunday stated that by the end of the third quarter of this year, India shall receive vaccines from five more producers.

The sources stated, “India currently has two 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 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 authorization (EUA) to any Covid-19 vaccine in the country”.

The effectiveness of the Russian vaccine is 91.6%. Sputnik V was registered for public use in Russia in the month of August. Russia was the first country to do so though it received approval before the start of the trial on a large scale in the month of September.

The EUA of Sputnik V comes at a moment when India is battling with the new strain of Covid-19 pandemic with the increase in the number of cases daily.