First large shipment of Russian Covid vaccine Sputnik V arrives at HYD

May 3, 2021: Hyderabad International Airport on Saturday (May 1) received the first large shipment (1.5 lakh doses) of Sputnik V, the Russian-made Covid-19 vaccine developed by Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology from Moscow on a Boeing 737 freighter of Atran, a Volga-Dnepr group airline.

Saurabh Kumar, chief executive officer, GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo, wrote on LinkedIn, “GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo handled the first large import shipment of Covid-19 vaccines into India for our valued customer Dr Reddy's Laboratories. The shipment arrived from Moscow to Hyderabad and our Covid Vaccine Task Force seamlessly handled the Sputnik V vaccines requiring -20 deg C. With the recently augmented facility specifically for handling Covid vaccines, we are now fully prepared for being India's hub for the import of time & temp sensitive Covid vaccines.”

“The consignment contains only the first dose of Sputnik V. The second dose is expected to arrive later this month. From May 20 onwards, India will start getting consignments of Sputnik V every week,” reports The Times of India.

The first shipment will be used by Dr Reddy’s to test out the cold chain, both in rural and urban settings. This initial quantity will be used across different channels as a pilot to line up our supply chain for the larger vaccination programme rollout. Subsequent consignments will arrive in the next few weeks. Dr Reddy’s has not yet announced the pricing for the vaccine, which has a global uniform price of $10 per dose.