Sputnik V launch postponed in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Manipal Hospitals postponed the launch of the Sputnik V vaccination as it hasn’t yet received the second dose supplies.

The hospital said, until the supplies of the second dose are guaranteed,  it cannot administer the first dose.

The hospital in a statement said, “It is unfortunate that owing to the unavailability of dose 2 stocks of Sputnik V, we had to postpone the commercial launch of the vaccine at our facility. Unlike other vaccines, Sputnik comes with two different vaccines for dose 1 and 2 and it is highly recommended to be administered with an interval of 21 days.

“Hence, we arrived at a decision of postponing the vaccination drive until we manage to store an adequate amount of second doses of Sputnik to avoid any risk factor. We are exploring various options to reschedule the vaccination drive of Sputnik V for the general public at the earliest,” it added.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories announced on Wednesday that the limited pilot soft launch of the Russian vaccine for Covid-19, Sputnik V, that was initiated in Hyderabad on May 14, has now been scaled up to other cities such as Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Baddi, Chennai, Miryalaguda and Kolhapur. More cities will be added in the next few days.