Coronavirus runs fast in India. It is running so fast that the Indian drug regulator, the Drug Controller General of India (Dcgi), has hastily authorized the use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. This is to try to stem the explosion of infections and put a curbing the spread of the virus. Only yesterday, in fact, about 170 thousand were infected: the Covid the Asian giant is hitting like a hurricane.
But there is a sad record to underline: India surpasses the Brazil by number of infected since the beginning of the pandemic, about 13.5 million and 170 thousand dead. These numbers, however, may not be true and be downward due to the victims caused by the virus in the most remote or rural areas of the nation that are difficult to verify.
These numbers lead India to be the second country in the world most affected by the coronavirus, after the Usa and before Brazil.
For these reasons, the Indian capital tries in every way to speed up the vaccination campaign and agreements are signed.
One above all is the one that sees several Indian pharmaceutical companies as protagonists, among them Gland Pharma, Hetero Biopharma, Panacea Biotec, Stelis Biopharma and Virchow Biotech, and the Russian sovereign fund Rdif, Russian Direct Investment Fund, for the production in India of the Sputnik V.
Therefore, the internal production of the Russian vaccine will begin shortly, which will be added to the two already existing: Covishield (under license Astrazeneca) and Covaxin of internal production.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, said that “India is our strategic partner for the production of Sputnik, both for the production and vaccination of the domestic population but also for distribution. global. About 850 million doses will be produced and will be able to vaccinate more than 425 million people in the world ”.
The largest vaccine manufacturer on the planet by number of doses produced and sold, the Indian Serum Institute, has already produced around 50 million doses of Covishield, while Bharat Biotech has stored 20 million doses of Covaxin. But at least four other vaccines would be in preparation and should be available shortly.
Meanwhile, the Asian giant is already thinking about the phase 2 of the countryside vaccine which should cover at least 270 million people, the over 50s and people with complex diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. According to the government program, India should be able to vaccinate 300 million people by August.