With several States floating global tenders for coronavirus vaccines, Russia on Tuesday said it has received some proposals and is studying them “very carefully” even as a Russian transport plane carrying more than two lakh packs of Remdeform (Remdesivir) landed here on Tuesday.
Vaccination against coronavirus with Sputnik vaccine of Russia started in India on May 14 after it was registered in the country under the emergency use authorisation on April 12.
As regards proposals, Russian Deputy envoy Roman Babushkin said here that his country was getting requests from states and companies for Sputnik and it was studying the proposals “very carefully”.
Making this assertion while speaking to a news agency, the envoy also said supplies to India are going on according to the “contract obligations and schedules”.
“Supplies of Sputnik V are going on according to the contract obligations and schedules. We are getting some more requests from other Indian companies and state governments and all proposals are being studied very carefully,” he added.
India has so far received two consignments of the Covid-19 vaccines.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Panacea Biotec, one of the leading pharmaceutical producers in India, on Monday launched the production of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.
Highlighting the Sputnik V progress, Roman said, “Sputnik V is one of the vaccines which is included in the Indian mass vaccination drive and it speaks for itself. This company (Panacea Biotec) is one of the Indian partners of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and is developing a business partnership. The preliminary schedule is to gradually reach 850 million doses in India per year. We know that there is interest from other business partners and even State Governments, all these proposals we are studying very carefully.”
Talking about the status of the single-dose vaccine ‘Sputnik lite’, the Russian envoy said promotion in India and distribution would be very helpful.
Besides airlifting Remdesivir on Tuesday, Russia last month sent two cargo planes carrying 22 tonnes including 20 oxygen generators, 75 mechanical ventilators, 150 medical monitoring devices, and 200,000 packages of medicine for treating Covid-19. Babushkin said his country is always there to support India as a “close and strategic partner”.