India key production partner for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, says RDIF CEO

India is the key production partner for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus, Kirill Dmitriev, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Tuesday.

"India is a key partner in terms of production of vaccine and we do expect that there will be restricted emergency use order for Sputnik V vaccine this month or next. After that, we will be able to start our vaccine delivery to India" Dmitriev told .

"The data published by The Lancet shows that Sputnik V is one of only three vaccines in the world with the efficacy of over 90 per cent but outperforms them in terms of safety, ease of transportation due to storage requirements of +2 to +8 degrees, and a more affordable price. Sputnik V is a vaccine for all mankind," Dmitriev said.

Dmitriev further stated that "For many other vaccines that have efficacy less than 90 per cent Sputnik V vaccine is willing to partner with them with one of our shots just as we are working with AstraZeneca to increase the efficacy of AstraZeneca vaccine."

According to the result of an interim analysis of the phase 3 trials published by the journal Lancet, Russian's Sputnik V is 91.6 per cent effective at protecting people from COVID-19.

"Sputnik V is already registered in 16 countries including Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Argentina, Bolivia, Algeria, Palestine, Venezuela, Paraguay, Turkmenistan, Hungary, UAE, Iran, Republic of Guinea, Tunisia and Armenia," read the Lancet's paper.

The paper further stated that in the first week of February, vaccination with Sputnik V will start in the 12 countries including Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Palestine, UAE, Paraguay, Hungary, Armenia, Algeria, Bosnian Serb Republic, Venezuela and Iran.

( With inputs from ANI )