Apollo Hospitals and Dr Reddy's Laboratories today said that they are collaborating to initiate a vaccination programme against coronavirus with Russia's Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V. The first phase of the programme will kick off with vaccinations in Hyderabad on Monday and in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday at Apollo facilities, according to a PTI report. The vaccinations would follow the SOPs as recommended by the Centre including registration on CoWIN. "This pilot phase will allow Dr. Reddy's and Apollo to test the arrangements and cold chain logistics and prepare for the launch. We are confident that with the Sputnik V vaccine, we will be able to make a significant contribution to ease availability and access to COVID vaccines to the community at large," Apollo Hospitals President – Hospitals Division K Hari Prasad said in a statement.
With the opening up of the vaccination programme for the private sector, the healthcare major has intensified efforts to accelerate the rate of vaccination through opening vaccination centres across its hospital network, he added. "We are also in discussions with corporates to undertake vaccination on their premises. We are currently administering COVID vaccine at 60 locations across the country including Apollo Hospitals, Apollo Spectra hospitals and Apollo Clinics," Prasad said. Dr Reddy's Laboratories CEO – Branded Markets (India & Emerging Markets) MV Ramana noted that the two entities were working to scale up the pilot and take the vaccine to other cities with an aim to inoculate as many Indians as possible. The Sputnik V vaccines for the pilot programme would be supplied by Dr Reddy's from the first batch of 1.5 lakh doses imported so far. Sputnik V is set to be rolled out this week after the second batch of the shots arrived in India yesterday. In August last year, Russia became the world's first country to register a coronavirus vaccine, dubbed as Sputnik V.