Apollo Hospitals in collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has launched a pilot program for administering Sputnik V vaccines.

Apollo Hospitals and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (Dr. Reddy’s) has launched a limited pilot program for the Sputnik V vaccine as part of the soft launch by Dr. Reddy’s in India. The first phase of vaccination program was started in Hyderabad on May 17, 2021 and in Visakhapatnam on May 18, 2021 at separate facilities at the Apollo Hospitals in those cities. The vaccination program followed all the SOPs as recommended by the Government including registration on CoWIN.

Dr. K. Hari Prasad, President – Hospitals Division, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Limited said, “With the opening up of the vaccination program for the private sector, we have intensified our efforts to accelerate the rate of vaccination through opening vaccination centers across our hospital network and 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. This pilot phase will allow Dr. Reddy’s and Apollo Hospitals 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.”

Mr. M.V. Ramana, CEO – Branded Markets (India & Emerging Markets), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories said: “We are pleased to collaborate with Apollo Hospitals as part of our soft pilot launch of the Sputnik V vaccine in India. We are working to scale up the pilot and take the vaccine to other cities, and in the upcoming months we hope to inoculate as many Indians as possible.”

The Sputnik V vaccines for the pilot program would be supplied by Dr. Reddy’s from the first batch of 1,50,000 vaccine doses imported by them for the soft launch. After Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam, the pilot program will be extended to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, and Pune.