Gurugram, June 25 (IANS) The Gurugram health department can start administering the Russian-made vaccine against Covid-19, Sputnik V, from the first week of July at the government health centres without any charge, officials said on Friday.

With this initiative, the Gurugram district will be among the first ones across Haryana, where the Russian-made vaccine will be administered at government facilities.

Officials said the health department has made the necessary arrangements for administering Sputnik V.

The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Gurugram, Virender Yadav, said that Sputnik V will be made available in Gurugram under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. The vaccine will be administered free of cost on first-come-first-serve basis.

"The health department has made all the necessary arrangements for the storage of Sputnik V. We have placed deep freezers to maintain the temperature required Sputnik V at the Polyclinic in Sector 31, Civil Hospital in Sector 10, Wazirabad Community Health Centre, and the sub-divisional government hospitals in Sohna and Pataudi," Yadav told IANS.

The Fortis Memorial Research Institute has became the first hospital in Haryana to introduce Sputnik V as part of a pilot soft launch last week.

--IANS str/arm