Poonawalla said that the government will get this vaccine and at a lower price ($3 to $4 i.e. 225-300 rupees) because it will buy a lot of doses.
The Serum Institute of India is trying to apply for emergency approval of ‘Covishield’ by December 2020. The company will apply for limited use on frontline workers and the elderly to India’s drug regulator. SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said this at a media summit. He also said that this vaccine can reach the general public by March-April 2021. The price of this vaccine in the private market can be between 500 and 600 rupees. This vaccine can be stored at a temperature of 2 ° to 8 ° C, which makes it an excellent vaccine candidate for India.
According to the CEO of the Serum Institute, they are expecting emergency approval based on the positive results of this vaccine in the United Kingdom. Poonawalla said, “If good results come from the UK till late November or early December, then we will apply for an emergency license.” In such a situation, the vaccine will arrive till January-February for the population which is the most vulnerable and for the general public by March-April. According to Poonawalla, his company can produce 5 to 6 crore doses in a month, which is set to be increased to 10 crores by February.
Poonawalla said that the government will get this vaccine and at a lower price ($3 to $4 i.e. 225-300 rupees) because it will buy a lot of doses. He said, “But the general public will have to pay 500 to 600 rupees for the vaccine.” He said that this vaccine is much cheaper than many other vaccines present in the market.
The Covishield vaccine is co-created by researchers at Oxford University and British pharma company AstraZeneca. The Lancet reported on Thursday that this vaccine was effective. SII has entered into a deal with AstraZeneca to produce 100 crore doses of Covishield.
Meanwhile, no company has explicitly stated the price of its vaccine. But according to various reports and experts, the estimated cost of vaccines can be something like this:
Moderna: $ 32-37 per dose (in US)
Pfizer: $ 19.50 per dose (in the US)
Johnson & Johnson: $ 10 per dose (in the US)
Bharat Biotech: Less than Rs 20
Novavax: $ 16 per dose (in the US)
Sputnik V: No Estimate
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