India Prepares to Approve the Sputnik V Vaccine

Local media reported an expert committee of the Indian government had approved on April 12, 2021, the Sputnik V vaccine for an emergency, restricted use authorization in India.

However, the New Delhi-based Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) will take a final decision on this COVID-19 vaccine recommendation. If approved, Sputnik V will be the third COVID-19 vaccine available in India.

As of April 1, 2021, fifty-nine countries had authorized the Sputnik V Vaccine.

The Sputnik V vaccine is an adenoviral-based vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. It uses a weakened virus to deliver small parts of a pathogen and stimulate an immune response. The active components are a modified replication-defective adenovirus of a different serotype (Serotype 26 for the first component; serotype 5 for the second), which has been modified to include the protein S-expressing gene of SARS-CoV-2.