86 percent of Indian respondents ready for Sputnik V vaccination, says survey

A survey has suggested that as many as 86 percent respondents in a survey in India have expressed their willingness to get vaccinated by Russian made Sputnik V Covid19 vaccine.

New Delhi: As many as 86 percent respondents in a survey in India have expressed their willingness to get vaccinated by Sputnik V Covid19 vaccine.

The survey that was conducted by YouGov, a leading UK company in market research and data analytics said that the overwhelming majority of participants in the study are positive about vaccination against Coronavirus.

Apart from India, residents of 11 countries including Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, the UAE and the Vietnam participated in the poll that took place between October 9-19.

Among the 12,000 respondents in the survey, nearly three-quarters of the respondents (73 percent) expressed readiness in being vaccinated against Coronavirus.

The survey is one of the largest on the topic and the first global survey involving countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

According to the survey, 96 percent respondents in Vietnam have expressed their willingness to get vaccinated by SputnikV, followed by 89 percent in Brazil, 88 percent in Malaysia, 80 percent in Mexico, 81 percent in Nigeria, 72 percent in Philippines, 74 percent in Egypt, 77 percent in UAE, 71 percent in Indonesia and 67 percent respondents in Vietnam have expressed their willingness to get vaccinated by SputnikV.

As per the survey, nine out of ten people would prefer a vaccine based on the human adenoviral vector (like SputnikV) to other non-human adenoviral vector platforms.

"The highest level of trust to a vaccine based on human adenoviral vector was observed across all countries," the survey said.

The survey was initiated by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia's sovereign wealth fund established in 2011 to make equity co-investments, primarily in Russia.

"A critically important finding from the survey was the fact that the majority of respondents are ready to be vaccinated against Coronavirus," said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF.

The survey participants who had heard about the SputnikV vaccine expressed a greater readiness to vaccination due to their understanding of the reliability, safety and efficacy of the Russian vaccine, said Dmitriev.

Interestingly, India's apex drug regulator (DCGI) has already given permission to Dr Reddy's and RDIF to carry out phase II and III clinical trials of the vaccine in the country.

In September, Dr Reddy's came to an understanding with RDIF to carry clinical trial of SputnikV vaccine and its distribution in India.

As per the deal, RDIF will supply 100 million doses of the vaccine to Dr Reddy's.