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Indian Government Approved Russia's Sputnik V Vaccine Against COVID-19, Health Ministry Says

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - The Indian government's expert panel has approved Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus, it will be rolled out in India by the Dr. Reddy's pharmaceutical company, the Indian Ministry of Health told Sputnik on Monday.
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"Subject Expert Committee approved Sputnik V vaccine and it will be rolled out by Dr Reddy," the ministry said.

India's Covaxin and AstraZeneca's Covieshield vaccines have been previously approved by the Indian government.

The Russian government registered Sputnik V last August. The Gamaleya-developed vaccine has been rolled out in the national vaccination campaign while Phase 3 clinical trials continued.

Sputnik V is built on the human adenoviral vector platform, which is considered a well-researched technology in comparison with more modern mRNA vaccines. According to the latest interim results of clinical trials released by medical journal Lancet, the vaccine has 91.6 percent efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19.

Sputnik V has been allowed for emergency use in about 60 countries with a total population of more than 1.5 billion people.

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