India to make 100m jabs for Russia

Moscow – One of the developers of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine announced yesterday that India-based drugmaker Hetero will produce over 100 million doses of the jab.

“Hetero, one of India’s leading generic pharmaceutical companies, have agreed to produce in India over 100 million doses per year of the world’s first registered vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection – Sputnik V,” the Russian Direct Investment Fund said in a statement, adding that production was expected to start in early 2021.

This week, Russia said interim results from the Sputnik V clinical trails showed the vaccine was 95% effective, similar to other international vaccine makers that have also published test results showing efficacy rates of 90% and higher. –