Pune: Russian-made vaccine Sputnik V will soon be the third free vaccine available at the government vaccination centres across the country.
“Currently, Sputnik V is available only in the private sector. Depending on supply, we want to make it available under our free vaccination programme soon,” chairperson of the Centre’s COVID-19 working group, Dr NK Arora was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
According to Arora, Sputnik V would be stored in cold chain facilities that preserve polio vaccines as it requires a storage temperature of -18°C.
Arora also said that some regions may have witnessed a slowdown in vaccination pace due to the ongoing polio drive. “The Covid vaccination programme will be streamlined within the coming week,” he added.
He also said that over 34 crore COVID vaccine doses had been administered in the country so far, and another 12 to 16 crore should be completed by July-end going by the schedule.
“Besides scaling up production of these two vaccines, the addition of Sputnik V and the impending rollout of Moderna and Zydus Cadila’s new shot would boost daily coverage from 50 lakh a day to 80 lakh and even 1 crore in the coming weeks,” Arora said adding that Covishield and Covaxin still constitute a large chunk of vaccine supplies.
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