As India faces second wave of novel coronavirus cases and vaccine shortage, the expert panel of country's drug regulator on Monday approved the use of Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine.

The vaccine, developed by Russia's Gamaleya national center of epidemiology and microbiology. This is the third COVID-19 vaccine approved by Subject Expert Committee (SEC) after Covishield and Covaxin.

The decision comes after Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)'s Subject Expert Committee (SEC) met today to take up Sputnik V application for Emergency Use Authorisation in India.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories, the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company, last week sought the government's approval for the vaccine to be used in India. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) partnered with Dr Reddy's in September 2020 to conduct clinical trials of Sputnik V in India. The Russian vaccine has an efficacy of 91.6% and is conducting its Phase III clinical trials in the UAE, India, Venezuela and Belarus, according to the Sputnik-V's website.

On Sunday, top government sources told news agency ANI that by end of the third quarter of this year, India will be getting vaccines from five additional manufacturers. India currently manufactures Covishield and Covaxin.

"India currently has 2 COVID-19 vaccines being manufactured locally: Covishield and Covaxin, and we can expect five more vaccines by Q3 2021. These vaccines are Sputnik V vaccine (in collaboration with Dr. Reddy's), Johnson & Johnson vaccine (in collaboration with Biological E), Novavax vaccine (in collaboration with Serum India), Zydus Cadila's vaccine, and Bharat Biotech's Intranasal Vaccine. Safety and efficacy are the Union government's primary concerns while granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to any COVID-19 vaccine in the country." ANI quoted the source as saying.

Along with Dr Reddy's the RDIF partnered with Virchow Biotech Private Limited in March to produce up to 200 million doses per year of Sputnik V in India, news agency PTI reported. It has also partnered with Stelis Biopharma Pvt Ltd and Panacea Biotec earlier in April as well to produce 200 million and 100 million doses per year of Sputnik V in the country.

Sputnik-V claims that it is affordable vaccine and can be "stored at a temperature of +2 to +8°C ". It says that these aspect of Sputnik-V allows for east distribution of the vaccine in hard-to-reach regions across the glo.