Covid 19

It’s All About The Money: Vaccine Manufacturers SII And Bharat Biotech Release Prices For India

SII is expected to iron out the pricing problem with the Centre in the coming days with a huge demand expected starting 1st May for both, Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

With the new liberalized program all set to come in effect from May 1 under which all individuals above 18 are eligible for vaccination, purchase from states and selling in the private market also allowed, Covishield’s manufacturer Serum Institute of India and Covaxin’s manufacturer Bharat Biotech released their price lists for India and abroad.

For state governments, Covishield can be procured at Rs 400/dose and Covaxin at Rs 600/dose. As for private hospitals, the former can be purchased at Rs 600/dose and the latter at Rs 1200/dose. Charges for end-consumer will depend on the service that’ll be levied additionally. In the case of state governments, many of them like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, have announced that vaccination will be free.

It’s also important to note that vaccinations in Central government hospitals will continue to remain free and the price bracket doesn’t apply to citizens above 45 and health care workers.

Also Read: Maharashtra To Vaccinate All Its Citizens For Free: Nawab Malik

Meanwhile, there seems to have row erupted over Covishield’s pricing in India. Originally the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine that’s being manufactured by Serum Insitute of India in Pune, CEO Adar Poonawalla had said that the new procurement price of Rs 400/dose will be applicable to both, states and Centre. The Union Health Ministry in a reply to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh issued a clarification and said that procurement will continue at the pre-agreed price of Rs 150/dose. Several questions were raised as to how could there be different pricing for states and Centre.

According to The Indian Express, even the Rs 400 procurement price — applicable to both State and new Central procurement orders — is higher than the price at which governments in countries such as the US, UK, and the European Union are sourcing directly from AstraZeneca. It is also higher than the price agreed by countries such as Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa for supplies of the vaccine from SII. In most of these countries, the shots are being administered for free, with the governments absorbing the costs.

More importantly, as per global comparison, the price of Rs 600 (around $8) that SII is charging for Covishield is also the most expensive compared to the aforementioned foreign countries. Serum Institute of India in its statement termed the comparison as “inaccurate” and said that the low price initially was based on the funding by countries for”at-risk manufacturing”

The high charge comes after Adar Poonawalla’s statement that the company is suffering losses at Rs150/dose rate and that this was a special rate for the Centre for the first 100mn doses. Bharat Biotech, meanwhile, didn’t make any specific statement about cost recovery.

SII is expected to iron out the pricing problem with the Centre in the coming days with a huge demand expected starting 1st May for both, Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

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