Coronavirus: Covishield price for states reduced to Rs 300

New Delhi : Serum Institute of India's CEO Adar Poonawalla has announced that its coronavirus vaccine – Covishield – will be given to states for a price tag of Rs 300, instead of earlier announced Rs 400. He called it a "philanthropic gesture".

"As a philanthropic gesture on behalf of Serum Institute of India, I hereby reduce the price to the states from Rs.400 to Rs.300 per dose, effective immediately; this will save thousands of crores of state funds going forward. This will enable more vaccinations and save countless lives," Mr Poonawalla wrote in his tweet.

Earlier, Serum has announced that the vaccine will be provided to states for Rs 400 per vial, giving birth to debate on price discrimination for Centre and states.

From May 1, private entities and state government will be allowed to buy Covishield directly from the Serum Institute under the Centre's liberalized policy to tackle the explosion of Covid cases.

50 per cent of the total production of Covishield and Covaxin can be purchased by the State government and rest 50 per cent will be procured by the Centre. Serum said it would continue to provide vaccines to the centre at Rs 150 a shot.

While Serum announced a price of Rs 400 rupees for states and Rs 600 for private hospitals, Bharat Biotech set the prices at Rs 600 and Rs 1,200 a dose.

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