Indian hospitals canceling orders for Russia's Sputnik V Covid vaccine. Here's why

Some of India's private hospitals have reportedly cancelled orders for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine as they struggle to sell COVID-19 shots. The cancellation comes amid surging supplies of free doses of other vaccines offered by the government.

Some industry officials have said that low demand and the extremely cold storage temperatures required have prompted few hospitals to cancel orders for Sputnik V.

A senior medical official at Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College and Hospital in Pune said barely 1% of the people wanted to go for Sputnik, while for others any Covid jab would work.

Since a June launch event by Dr Reddy's Laboratories, only 943,000 doses of Sputnik V have been administered by hospitals, a fraction of the national total of more than 876 million.

AstraZeneca vaccine, which can be stored in regular refrigerators, unlike Sputnik V, which needs temperatures of -18 degrees Celsius is the major player in India’s inoculation drive

Sputnik vaccine is also as much as 47% more expensive than AstraZeneca in the private market.

Covishield accounts for 88% of India's inoculations, followed by Bharat Biotech's domestically developed Covaxin