India on Monday granted Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) to Russia`s anti-covid vaccine Sputnik V, as the country continues to reel under the second wave of coronavirus.

The approval comes on the day India reported 168,912 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours to overtake Brazil as the second-most affected Covid-19 country in the world. India`s overall coronavirus tally has reached 13.53 million.

The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) had met earlier last week and asked for more information on the vaccine. The committee, set up by the government, looked into Dr Reddy`s application seeking approval for the vaccine to be used in India.

The Russian vaccine has an effectiveness of 91.6 per cent. Dr Reddy`s Lab has partnered with the Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to bring the Sputnik V vaccine to India and other countries.

Russia had registered Sputnik V for public use in August, the first country to do so, though the approval came before the start of the large-scale trial in September.

As per media reports, India by end of the third quarter of this year will be getting vaccines from five additional manufacturers. India currently manufactures Covishield and Covaxin.

In addition to Sputnik, India could roll out Johnson and Johnson (Bio E), Cadilla Zydus, Novavex (Serum Institute of India) and Nasal Vaccine (Bharat) by the end of this year.

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