Sputnik V: First Dose administered at Rs 995
On May 14, 2021, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories announced that it had launched Sputnik V in India. The vaccine is imported from Russia. And is distributed by Dr Reddy’s laboratory. Currently, Sputnik V is the second most expensive COVID1-19 vaccines in the country. The cost of one dose of Sputnik V is Rs 995.
The price of COVISHIELD vaccines was Rs 400 per dose. It recently reduced it to Rs 300 per dose. It is manufactured locally by Serum Institute of India.
COVAXIN costs Rs 600 per dose for the state governments and Rs 1,200 for private hospitals.
Sputnik V
- It was developed by Gamleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow.
- It is a two-dose vaccine. However, recently a single dose vaccine of Sputnik V has been produced in Russia. It is called Sputnik Light Single Dose. India is administering only the double dose Sputnik V.
- While COVISHIELD is created from a weakened common cold adenovirus that affects Chimpanzees, Sputnik V is created using different Human Adenoviruses.
- The efficacy of the vaccine is 91%.
- The first dose of Sputnik V was administered in Hyderabad.
Doses received
The Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has received 150,000 doses of Sputnik V from Russia. India (that is Dr Reddy’s) signed an agreement with the Russia Direct Investment Fund to receive 250 million doses. This is sufficient to inoculate 125 million people in the country.
RDIF of Russia is responsible for signing agreements for the supply of Sputnik V.
Cost of Sputnik V
The imported vaccine was priced at Rs 948 per dose. However, the price of the vaccine has been increased to Rs 995.40 per dose including 5% GST. Recently, several State Governments were asking to waive off GST on vaccines. To this, the Finance Minister had clearly explained that doing so will lead to price rise of the vaccine.
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Month: Current Affairs - May, 2021