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A consignment of three million doses of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

A GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC) press release said the vaccine consignment arrived from Russia on a specially chartered freighter RU-9450, which touched down at Hyderabad airport at 03.43 hours.

“While GHAC has already handled several import shipments of vaccine prior to this, today’s shipment of 56.6 tonnes of vaccines is the single largest import shipment of COVID-19 vaccines handled in India till date. This shipment completed all processes and was dispatched in less than 90 minutes,” it said.

The Sputnik V vaccine requires specialised handling and storage, required to be kept at a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius.

GHAC has been working closely with the experts from the customer’s supply chain team, officials from the customs department, and other relevant stakeholders over an extended period of time to ensure that the necessary infrastructure and handling processes are fully in place at the Air Cargo Terminal for smooth handling of the vaccine shipments, it said.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories is in a pact with Russian Direct Investment Fund to sell the first 125 million people doses (250 million vials) of SputnikV in India.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has received approval from the Indian drug regulator for restricted emergency use of Sputnik V.

Dr Reddy’s, which had earlier received over two lakh vaccines from RDIF, recently soft-launched Sputnik V and tied up with Apollo Hospitals for piloting the vaccine.

Earlier, in May 2021, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories launched COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V in the Indian market, with the first dose being administered in Hyderabad, as part of a limited pilot.

The company said the imported doses of the vaccine are presently priced at a maximum retail price of Rs 948, with 5 percent GST per dose, amounting to Rs 995.4 per dose.