Government of Pakistan Approves Russian Vaccine Sputnik V For Emergency Use
The government is vouching in favor of another vaccine against coronavirus under “emergency use authorization”. The vaccine that got approval is the Russian Sputnik V. A local pharmaceutical company now holds the license for the import and distribution of the Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V.
The decision comes after analyzing the gap between the availability and demand of vaccines in the country. Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine is the third vaccine that got approval.
ALSO READ: Worlds Biggest Coronavirus Vaccine Factory Catches Fire
UAE is also using Sputnik V for emergency cases. Hungary is also actively importing and using the Sputnik V vaccine. Russia aims to keep the price of the vaccine low and aims to introduce it in the Indian market ‘very soon’. The price in question is around $10.
“In a meeting conducted by the registration board of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap), another vaccine has also been given EUA (emergency use authorization). This Sputnik V was developed with the backing of the Russian Development Investment Fund,” the official statement from the Government reads.
Coronavirus Vaccines In the Country
Over the last ten days, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan has given the green light to the Oxford University-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine. Another vaccine by the name of Sinopharm got the green light. The Chinese state owns the Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine. Pakistan now allows these three for emergency use.
“Sputnik V is the world’s first registered vaccine based on a well-studied human adenoviral vector-based platform,” said the information available on the Sputnik V website. “It currently ranks among top-10 candidate vaccines approaching the end of clinical trials and the start of mass production on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) list.”
The Sputnik V post-registration clinical trial in Russia had 40,000 volunteers. Sputnik V will have more clinical trials in the UAE, India, Venezuela, and Belarus.
ALSO READ: The Controversial WhatsApp Privacy Policy
Last week, Hungary became the first European Union country to approve the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Hungary will make use of the vaccine for the vaccination of the mass public. The UAE also is now authorizing the use of the vaccine. This makes UAE the 12th country outside of Russia which has authorized its use.
Russia is one of the countries that have put their differences aside when marketing their state-owned Sputnik V. The adoption rate for Sputnik V is high. More and more countries are giving approvals and are preferring the double dose vaccine over others.
“Russia’s state-owned Sputnik-V has developed a double-dose vaccine, which is administered by syringes,” said the Pakistani officials.
A local pharmaceutical AGP, he said, has been given authorization as the sole importer and distributor of the Russian vaccine.
