New Delhi: To add pace to the national COVID-19 vaccination programme, the Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram has begun its pilot soft launch of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V, the ANI reported on Sunday (June 27, 2021). The Institute has procured the vaccine stock directly from Dr Reddy's Laboratories.


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"The response to the pilot soft launch of the Sputnik V has been overwhelming at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram. The vaccination launch was successfully driven in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories," said a statement issued by the Fortis Memorial Research Institute.


The Institute has started the trial run for the general public and has vaccinated over 470 people. 


Dr Reddy's laboratories had recently said that their pilot phase has been scaled up to Vizag, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Miryalaguda, Vijayawada, Baddi, Kolhapur, Raipur, Chandigarh, Pune, Nagpur, Ranchi, Jaipur so far. 


"We aim to reach 28 cities in total," they had stated. 



On May 14, Dr Reddy's had announced that the Sputnik V vaccine has received regulatory clearance from the Central Drugs Laboratory, Kasauli, on May 13. 


As part of a limited pilot, the first dose of the vaccine was administered in Hyderabad on May 14.


Sputnik V became the third coronavirus vaccine to be made available in India after the Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.


Earlier in September 2020, Dr Reddy's had partnered with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to conduct the clinical trials of the Sputnik V and for its distribution rights in India.


According to the Centre's pricing schedule, the maximum price of the two-dose vaccine has been fixed at Rs 1,145, which will also include the hospital charges.


Recently, the RDIF had said that Sputnik V's efficacy is better on the Delta variant (first detected in India) than any other vaccine that has published results on the strain so far.


(With ANI inputs)