The Russian Direct Investment Fund has said that Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine will be available in India by December this year. CEO of Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev told reporters that they have Pune’s Serum institute as their production partner, and hope that Sputnik Light will help in India’s vaccination campaign.
Earlier in the day, the Russian vaccine maker announced that Sputnik vaccine for children aged 12-17 will be approved by Russia’s Health Ministry soon and the shots will roll out by the end of the year.
In recent weeks, Russia has seen a big spike in Covid19 cases. 33,558 new cases were confirmed on November 24, taking the total number of infections to 9,434,393.
India reported 9,283 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. With this, the active number of infections in the country stands at 1,11,481, which is the lowest in 537 days. As of November 2021, 29.8% of India’s total population has been fully vaccinated.
India has largely eased Covid19 restrictions in most of its states and cities. Schools and universities have also reopened in some parts of the country, while the tourism industry seems to be picking up pace again. However, fully vaccinating a population of 138 crore people still remains a big challenge.
