MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the pharmaceutical company Panacea Biotec have started the production of the Sputnik V vaccine in India, the Fund said in a statement on Monday.

"The Russian Direct Investment Fund and Panacea Biotec, one of the leading vaccine and pharmaceutical producers in India, today announced the launch of production of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against coronavirus. The first batch produced at Panacea Biotec’s facilities at Baddi will be shipped to the Gamaleya Center for quality control. Full-scale production of the vaccine is due to start this summer," the statement said.

The company’s facilities comply with GMP standards and are prequalified by the World Health Organization, according to the RDIF.

Sputnik V was registered in India under the emergency use authorization procedure on April 12, 2021, while the vaccination against the coronavirus with the Russian vaccine started on May 14. As announced in April, the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Panacea have agreed to produce 100 million doses per year of Sputnik V.

To date Sputnik V has been registered in 66 countries globally with total population of over 3.2 billion people. Efficacy of Sputnik V is 97.6% based on the analysis of data on coronavirus infection rate among those in Russia vaccinated with both components of Sputnik V from December 5, 2020 to March 31, 2021.