Pinaki Majumdar
Jamshedpur, Aug 4: The East Singhbhum unit of the Indian Red Cross Society has placed orders for procuring the high efficacy Sputnik V vaccine.
The vaccine is expected to be made available to the people here around mid-August.
Confirming this development, senior functionaries of the Indian Red Cross Society ( East Singhbhum chapter ) said advance payment has been already made for procuring the vaccine doses.
” We have already made an advance payment for getting the vaccine. The vaccine will be given on a no-profit, no-loss mode. It will be a paid service. One dose of Sputnik V vaccine will cost around Rs 1,600, ” said Vijay Singh, secretary of East Singhbhum unit of Indian Red Cross Society.
He said the consignment of the vaccine is expected to arrive in the next one week from Mumbai.
From Mumbai, the consignment will land at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi from where it will be brought to Jamshedpur in a vehicle with special arrangements having a cold chain maintenance system.
The Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V is an adenoviral-based, two-part vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus.
Initially manufactured in Russia, Sputnik V uses a weakened virus to deliver small parts of a pathogen and stimulate an immune response.
The Sputnik V vaccine is effective in reducing the time taken for the actual development of immunity for the virus behind the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Sputnik V vaccination will be provided at the Red Cross Bhawan located on the Subarnarekha Link Road in Sakchi, where special arrangements are being done.
The Indian Red Cross Society bought a special refrigerator for storing the vaccine vials under minus 25 degrees temperature.
Unlike the Indian-made Covishield or Covaxine vials, stored at a temperature of 2.8 degrees, the Sputnik V vials are required to be stored at a temperature of minus 25 degrees.
The representatives of the company dealing with the Sputnik V vaccine will be able to monitor through an online system the refrigerator’s temperature round the clock.