Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Covishield, Covaxin costs cut to ₹225 per dose for pvt hospitals
The reduced price was a result of a day of hard negotiations between Centre and the vaccine makers
NEW DELHI: The prices of both Covishield and Covaxin have been slashed to ₹225 per dose at private health facilities, the makers of the vaccines said on Saturday, a day before booster doses were to be available to all adults at private vaccination centres across the country on April 10.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin vaccine earlier cost ₹1,200 per dose in private hospitals, and Pune-based Serum Institute of India was selling its Covishield vaccine at ₹600 per dose.
The reduced price was a result of a day of hard negotiations between the central government and the vaccine manufacturers. “All in a day’s work,” a health ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Both vaccine makers announced the revised prices on Twitter.
“We are pleased to announce that after discussion with the Central Government, SII has decided to revise the price of COVISHIELD vaccine for private hospitals from ₹600 to ₹225 per dose. We once again commend this decision from the Centre to open precautionary dose to all 18+,” Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of the Serum Institute of India, tweeted on Saturday.
Poonawalla had been for long advocating the need to allow the booster dose for the public as a choice.
Co-founder and joint managing director of Bharat Biotech, Suchitra Ella, also announced the reduced price of Covaxin in a tweet.
“Announcing #CovaxinPricing. We welcome the decision to make available precautionary dose for all adults. In consultation with the Central Government, we have decided to revise the price of #COVAXIN from ₹1,200 to ₹225 per dose, for #privatehospitals,” Ella tweeted.
The private vaccination centres will be allowed to charge a maximum of ₹150 per dose as service charge, the health ministry said in guidelines issued on Saturday.
Covishield and Covaxin are the two main vaccines being administered under the national Covid-19 immunisation programme, even though eight antiCovid vaccines have been given approval so far for restricted use in emergency situation by the national drugs regulator.
At least 1.51 billion doses of Covishield have been administered so far since January 16, 2021, when India began its national Covid-19 immunisation drive. Close to 310 million doses of Covaxin have also been administered under the national programme.
Apart from adults, Covaxin is being administered to adolescents aged 15 and 18 as the government allowed only Covaxin to be administered to this population cohort since inoculation was expanded for them on January 3.