Russia’s coronavirus vaccine faces equipment shortages that could delay it from entering mass production, President Vladimir Putin said as reports suggested that developers have paused clinical trials due to the shortages. Russia that is testing its first approved coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V has temporarily halted trials. A representative of the firm running the trials also said that this is due to high demand and shortage of doses. “It’s related to the fact that there’s colossal demand for the vaccine and they are not producing enough to keep up,” the official representing Crocus Medical said. The firm along with the Russian health ministry are running the clinical trials for Sputnik V. Staff from eight of the 25 Moscow clinics where the trials are taking place said that the vaccination of new participants in the Phase 3 of trials have been temporarily paused. The official said that the vaccination will re-start from November 10. Alexei Kuznetsov, aide to Russia’s health minister said that the target of 40,000 vaccinated volunteers will, however, be met. Russia is currently testing Sputnik V on 40,000 people in Moscow. It is also already vaccinating frontline workers in limited numbers. This halt in trials comes after reports suggested that Russia is facing a steep challenge of scaling up production due to issues of availability of equipment. “There is one question right now and that’s providing for industrial production (of the vaccine) in necessary volumes,” President Vladmir Putin said, speaking at an investor forum in Russia. He said that there are certain problems with this related to availability or lack thereof of the necessary equipment. “Hard materials that are needed for the roll-out of mass production,” he said. Due to the shortage, the Ministry of External Affairs has said India’s vaccine production and delivery capabilities will be utilized to take coronavirus vaccines to the world population. “As announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech to the UN General Assembly last month, India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic,” MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said. On the other end, pharmaceuticals such as Moderna, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca claim that they are on track with the Covid-19 vaccine trials.