3mn doses of Sputnik V from Russia land in Hyderabad

A consignment of three million doses of Russia's COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

A GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo press release said the vaccine consignment arrived from Russia on a specially chartered freighter RU-9450 which touched down at Hyderabad Airport at 03.43 hours.

"While GHAC has already handled several import shipments of vaccine prior to this, todays shipment of 56.6 tonnes of vaccines is the single largest import shipment of COVID-19 vaccines handled in India till date.This shipment completed all processes and was dispatched in less than 90 minutes," it said.

The Sputnik V vaccine requires specialised handling and storage, required to be kept at a temperature of -20 C.

GHAC has been working closely with the experts from the customers supply chain team, officials from customs department and other relevant stakeholders over an extended period of time to ensure that the necessary infrastructure and handling processes are fully in place at the Air Cargo Terminal for smooth handling of the vaccine shipments, it said.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories is in a pact with Russian Direct Investment Fund to sell the first 125 million people doses (250 million vials) of Sputnik V in India.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories has received approval from the Indian drug regulator for restricted emergency use of Sputnik V.

Dr Reddy's which had earlier received over two lakh vaccines from RDIF, recently soft-launched Sputnik V and tied up with Apollo Hospitals for piloting the vaccine.