A medical worker prepares a shot of Russias Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in a local rural medical post in the village of Ikhala in Russia.
As India battles with the second wave of coronavirus, NITI Aayog member VK Paul on Thursday said that the Sputnik V vaccine will be available in the market by next week.
"We hope Sputnik V vaccine will be available in market by next week," VK Paul said.
At present, two vaccines including Serum Institute's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin are part of Centre's national vaccination programme and so far over 17 crore people have been vaccinated in the country.
Russia's Sputnik V will be the third vaccine that will be added to nation's inoculation drive.
"Sputnik V is a two-dose vaccine taken at a gap of three weeks. The unique feature of it is that the antigens in the first and second dose are different from each other. In other vaccines, both doses are the same."
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Meanwhile, NITI Aayog member VK Paul also said, "India will examine the claim that a single dose of Russian vaccine ‘Sputnik Light’ can provide protection from the novel coronavirus infection".
"In case of Sputnik Light, they (developers) are saying that the first dose is enough. We are examining this claim. We will go through its data and immunogenicity, and after that we will see. Let more information come in," Paul said.
He was responding to a query if Sputnik Light will be used in India for vaccinating its population against the infection. Paul noted that if the claims of the vaccine developer are true, it can help double the speed of vaccination in India.
"… it is very promising, if there is protection from single dosage as they have claimed. It is very encouraging and makes us feel very optimistic. Single-dose vaccines can increase the speed of vaccination, but the merit and the processing of their request, as and when it comes, will be based on scientific data and information," he noted.
India's drug regulator had last month granted permission for restricted emergency use of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V with certain conditions.
(With inputs from PTI)
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