NEW DELHI, June 27: Various private hospitals in Delhi-NCR are yet to start administering the Russian ‘Sputnik V’ Covid-19 vaccine.
An Indraprastha Apollo hospital official told IANS on Sunday that Sputnik V was yet to be rolled out, but “the management is working on it”.
“We are in the process of rolling out Sputnik V Covid -19 vaccines. We do not have clarity on the dates of the vaccine rollout and will come out with more clarity on it by this evening,” the official said.
Indraprastha Apollo had earlier said that it would tentatively start administering the two-dose vaccine by June 25.
A Max Group Hospitals spokesperson said: “Sputnik V Covid vaccine is not available as of today.”
The Madhukar Rainbow Children’s Hospital in Malviya Nagar also said that the hospital was yet to receive supply of Sputnik V from Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.
“There is a delay on the part of the suppliers. We are expecting to receive it soon,” a hospital official said.
Fortis Healthcare, which had said that it would make Sputnik V available at its Gurugram and Mohali hospitals, has also not started administering the Russian vaccine to people so far.
A Fortis hospital spokesman told IANS that the management has started administering Sputnik V two days back but officially it was not announced. “Few doses of Russian Sputnik V vaccine were administered on Friday on a trial basis… we will announce it soon.”
Sputnik V uses two different viruses that cause the common cold (adenovirus) in humans. The two doses, given 21 days apart, are different and not interchangeable.
The Centre has fixed the price of the vaccine at Rs 1,145 per dose. The maximum price of Covishield at private Covid-19 Vaccination Centres (CVCs) has been fixed at RS 780 per dose, while that of Covaxin at Rs 1,410 per dose.