Drug maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories said on Tuesday that the locally-manufactured Covid-19 Sputnik V vaccine is expected to be available in the September-October period. "The local manufacturers of Sputnik V vaccine are currently in the process of technology absorption and scale up, and we expect that the vaccine will be available from September-October period," the pharma firm's CEO, Branded Markets (India & Emerging Markets), M.V. Ramana, said.

He told reporters that due to the sudden spike of Covid-19 cases in Russia, the arrival of Sputnik V doses are getting delayed, and the company expects the situation to ease by August-end. Dr Reddy's soft-launched the vaccine on May 14 after receiving Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) in April. So far, the vaccine has been launched in about 80 cities and towns across India and over 2.5 lakh people have been administered the jab.