Bharat Biotech reduces COVAXIN price to Rs. 400 for states
Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech on Thursday reduced the price of its COVID-19 vaccine, COVAXIN, for state governments. Earlier, states could procure the vaccine at a price of Rs. 600 per dose, however, the price has now been reduced to Rs. 400. Just a day earlier, the Serum Institute of India (SII) had slashed the price of Covishield for states. Here are more details.
Centre procuring doses at Rs. 150
Bharat Biotech said in a statement, "Recognizing the enormous challenges to the public health care system, we have made COVAXIN available to state governments at a price of Rs. 400/dose." The price of procurement for private facilities remains unchanged at Rs. 1,200 per dose. Notably, the company is supplying doses to the central government at a price of Rs. 150.
Deeply concerned with critical pandemic circumstances: Bharat Biotech
The statement said, "Bharat Biotech is deeply concerned with the critical pandemic circumstances that India is facing at this time." "We wish to be transparent in our approach to pricing, which was determined by internally funded product development, several operationally-intensive BSL-3 manufacturing facilities (the first of its kind in our country), and clinical trials," it added.
You can view the statement here
SII slashed Covishield prices for states yesterday
SII CEO Adar Poonawalla had yesterday announced that the price of Covishield was being reduced from Rs. 400 to Rs. 300 for states. After the Centre allowed state governments and private players to independently procure vaccine doses, both companies had announced inconsistent prices for the Centre, states, and private facilities. This drew flak as critics said a pandemic was no time to earn profits.
India to expand vaccination drive from Saturday
The announcement comes days before India's vaccination drive expands to all people above the age of 18 starting May 1. Currently, only people aged over 45 are allowed to get vaccinated along with healthcare and frontline workers. Registrations for the age group 18-44 years started on Wednesday and nearly 1.33 crore entries poured in. However, most of them could not book slots.
India reports record 3.8 lakh new cases
Notably, India is facing a brutal second wave of COVID-19, reporting 3.8 lakh new cases on Thursday, a record spike for any nation in the world. The total number of cases has now reached 1.83 crore. India also witnessed its deadliest day, recording 3,645 fresh fatalities, which pushed the death toll past 2.04 lakh. Meanwhile, 15,00,20,648 vaccine doses have been administered across India.
