India to make 300 million Sputnik V vaccines

India will produce about 300 million 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.

“In India, we have agreements with four large manufacturers,” Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) told Rossiya 24 TV, according to news agency TASS.

India’s Hetero Biopharma has already announced a deal with the RDIF to make more than 100 million 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 is conducting clinical trials of it in India and will also distribute the finished vaccine.