Reportedly, India has been in touch with Russia over Sputnik-V, the Russian vaccine against coronavirus. The Indian Embassy in Moscow is already in talks with the developers of the COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccine.
Importantly, Russia was the first country in the world to present its own coronavirus vaccine. Despite the lack of large-scale clinical trials, Russia is going to launch mass production of the vaccine as well as to start vaccination. Many countries remain skeptical about the efficacy of the vaccine due to the insufficiency of clinical trials and official data. Therefore, they are unwilling to buy the COVID-19 Sputnik V vaccine. Yet, India reached out to the Russian government about possible purchases of the vaccine. "The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) along with the Department of Health Research has been asked to lead and look into the matter. They (Russian government officials) have shared some information and data on Sputnik V, while more data related to the safety and efficacy of the vaccine is awaited," the source said. Nevertheless, India is also in talks with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the American Moderna-NIAID about a vaccine.
Sputnik V has been developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology along with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). Russia has already received preliminary requests for 1 billion doses of the vaccine against COVID-19 from over 20 countries, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, pointed out.
