Vikrant Shekhawat : Nov 25, 2021, 11:06 AM
New Delhi: The Sputnik light Covid-19 vaccine will be launched in India by December, Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. The one-shot Sputnik Light vaccine is in the midst of clinical trials.The Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories is the sole distributor of Sputnik V under an agreement with the RDIF.Addressing a press conference, the CEO of Russian Direct Investment Fund Dmitriev said, "We are hopeful for the launch of Sputnik light in India in December and we are working very well with Indian institutes.""We have Serum institute as our production partner in India, and we believe that Sputnik light will play a big role in the Indian vaccination campaign," he added.Earlier in the day, the Sputnik V informed that Russia's Health Ministry will register the Sputnik vaccine for children aged 12-17, with shots expected to be available at the end of December."Russia's Health Ministry will register Sputnik vaccine for children aged 12-17 today. Sputnik M vaccine for children will be a welcome member in the Sputnik family both in Russia and in global markets," Sputnik V said in a tweet.This came as Russia has been grappling with a surge in coronavirus infections and related deaths in recent weeks.The country has registered 33,558 new confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the lowest number since October 16, with the total number of infections reaching 9,434,393 cases, according to data of the anti-coronavirus crisis centre published on Wednesday.Besides, India reported 9,283 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. With this, the active caseload of the infection in the country stands at 1,11,481, which is the lowest in 537 days.