Russia’s Sputnik V will soon offer a booster shot, adjusted to work against the Delta variant of coronavirus, first detected in India, to other vaccine manufacturers, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said on Thursday.

Taking to Twitter, the official handle of the Russian vaccine affirmed on Tuesday that Sputnik V’s efficacy is better on the Delta variant than any other vaccine that has published results on the strain so far.

“Sputnik V is more efficient against the Delta variant of coronavirus first detected in India, than any other vaccine that published results on this strain so far – the Gamaleya Centre study submitted for publication in an international peer-reviewed journal,” the makers said further.

Shots to be available at Fortis in Delhi

Private hospital chain Fortis Healthcare on Thursday announced that Sputnik V, the third anti-coronavirus vaccine approved for use in India, will be available at its Gurgaon and Mohali facilities as part of a limited pilot roll-out from Saturday.

The vaccine stock has been procured directly from Dr. Reddy's Laboratories according to government guidelines, it said.

"The two-dose vaccine will be available at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, and Fortis Hospital, Mohali," the private hospital chain said in a statement.

In the coming days, the vaccine will be available at more Fortis hospitals across 11 cities as part of the phase-wise pilot project.

Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD and CEO, Fortis Healthcare, said, "Fortis is actively working towards ensuring that as many Indians as possible are fully vaccinated. To date, our units were only providing Covaxin and Covishield."

"However, we are pleased to announce that Fortis, in collaboration with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, is among the first to provide a third vaccine option, at Fortis Memorial Research Institute and Fortis Hospital Mohali, with the dual objective of expanding and scaling up the vaccination drive and lowering the infection risks to future mutations of the virus."

Earlier, Delhi's Indraprastha Apollo Hospital and Madhukar Rainbow Children's Hospital had also said they will start administering the Russian COVID-19 vaccine by June 20.

The Centre has fixed the price of the vaccine at Rs 1,145 per dose. The maximum price of Covishield for private COVID-19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs) has been fixed at Rs 780 per dose, while that of Covaxin is Rs 1,410 per dose.

Russia's Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology has developed the vaccine and the Russian Direct Investment Fund is marketing it globally.

Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories, the marketing partner for the vaccine in the country, has been importing the shots from Russia. Over a period of time, the vaccine is also going to be manufactured in India.

Sputnik V uses two different viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus) in humans. It employs a different vector for each of the two shots, given 21 days apart.

According to Gamaleya and the RDIF, Sputnik V has demonstrated an efficacy rate of 92 per cent.