Adar Poonawalla reveals price of coronavirus vaccines in India
New Delhi : A day after it was announced that the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) approved Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for emergency use against coronavirus, the SII CEO Adar Poonawalla on Sunday revealed the prices of vaccine which will be made available in the market.
Poonawalla announced that Covishield will be made available to the government for a price tag of Rs 250 and for private markets it will be available for Rs 1000 per dose.
According to Poonawalla, Serum's Covishield is cheaper than the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and its transportation is also easy as compared to Pfizer's vaccine. He also mentioned that the Pune-based company is developing around 40-50 million doses every month.
Interestingly, the SII hopes to vaccinate around 130 crore Indians by mid-2021. "We are ready to provide the vaccine for the government. We have sent our proposal and are waiting for the contract to be signed with the government. The vaccine will be made available to the government within 10 days of the contract," he said.
Poonawalla also confirmed that they are yet to get an approval from the government for export of the vaccine. "We have bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia and some other countries. We have sought permission from the government in this regard. After getting this approval, we will be able to deliver our medicine to more than 50 countries of the world," he said.
On Saturday, health minister Harsh Vardhan announced that the vaccine will be made available free of cost to the people in priority.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has welcomed the DCGI decision and said that approval of two vaccines is a decisive turning point to strengthen a spirited fight. "DCGI granting approval to vaccines of Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech accelerates the road to a healthier and COVID-free nation. Congratulations India. Congratulations to our hardworking scientists and innovators," he said.
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