SII fixes COVISHEILD price

Welcoming the recent announcement made by Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Finance Ministry to accelerate India’s vaccination drive, Adar C Poonawalla,

CEO, Serum Institute of India (SII), on April 21, 2021 said “For the next two months, we will address the limited capacity by scaling up the vaccine production. Going ahead, 50 per cent of our capacities will be served to the Government of India’s vaccination programme, and the remaining 50 per cent of the capacity will be for the state governments and private hospitals.”

Following the Government of India directives, SII fixed the COVISHEILD price at Rs 400/ dose for governments and Rs 600/ dose for private hospitals. Whereas in the global market the American Vaccines could cost Rs 1500/dose and Russian and Chinese Vaccines could cost Rs 750/ dose. Referring to the prices, Poonawalla observed “Considering the global vaccine prices, we are ensuring that our vaccines are affordable in comparison to any other vaccines in the world.” On April 28, Poonawalla twitted “As a philanthropic gesture on behalf of @SerumInstIndia, I hereby reduce the price to the states from Rs 400 to Rs 300 per dose, effective immediately; this will save thousands of crores of state funds going forward. This will enable more vaccinations and save countless lives.”