‘Foreign firms demanding double price of vaccine’

Foreign vaccine manufacturers are demanding “double” prices for per dose of Covid vaccine than expected by the state government, officials said.

Facing the vaccines shortage, the Rajasthan government had released an expression of interest to procure 10 million vaccines from foreign manufacturers. The tender will be opened on Thursday evening.

An official familiar with the development said the officials spoke to the representatives of foreign firms making Sputnik V and Covishield; they assured participation in the tender to procure vaccines for Rajasthan.

He said though the exact price for a dose by them would be clear once the tender is open, but it seems their offer would be double the price of what Serum Institute of India is providing – ₹300 plus GST per dose.

The increase in prices would affect the state expected budget allotted for the vaccines but interest and safety of the public is priority. The state had also procured oxygen concentrators through global EOI – around 62 companies in 13 countries were contacted and thereafter were bought from Russia, China, and Dubai, he said.

The official said the firms are asked when at what rate, and how many vaccines they can provide. “Only those vaccines will be procured which are approved by Drug Controller General of India. Currently, three vaccines are approved Covaxin, Covishield, and Sputnik,” he said.

The state government has decided free vaccination to youth in age group 18-44 years by spending about ₹3,000 crore from its own resources. Till date, over 1061,000 in this age group has been vaccinated with a single dose.

The state has ordered 30.75 million doses to Serum Institute of India (SII), which is struggling with huge demand of vaccine from all states.

A total of 15,488,978 people have been vaccinated in the state. Over 5.2 million people in the 60 plus age group have been vaccinated, of which only 1.6 million have received the second dose. Similar is the situation of 45-59 age category population – over 4.9 million people have been given the first dose and 731,000 the second dose.