Talks on production of Sputnik Light vaccine in India nearing completion: Lavrov
New Delhi: Talks on production of the single-dose Sputnik Light anti-Covid vaccine in India are nearing completion, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters here.
Speaking to reporters, following talks with Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and after the inaugural 2+2 dialogue format between the two countries’ defence and foreign ministers on Monday, he said: “The talks on Sputnik Light are nearing completion”. The agreement on the production of the two-component vaccine Sputnik V in India is also being implemented, Lavrov said.
“Quite a large scale is expected- around hundred million doses each year,” he said, Tass reported. In mid-September, a committee of experts under the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) issued a permit for intermediate tests of the third (final) stage of Sputnik Light studies in India. Once approved, Sputnik Light will be the first one-dose coronavirus vaccine to be used in India.
India currently uses three vaccines, including Covishield developed by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca and produced by India’s Serum Institute, Covaxin produced by India’s Bharat Biotech, and Russia’s Sputnik V.
Two US vaccines, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, have recently also been approved for emergency use in the country, though the vaccination using those jabs has not started yet in India.
