Serum Institute revises price of its Covid vaccine for State governments

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: As the Government of India reportedly asked the Serum Institute of India and the Bharat Biotech to lower price of their Covid-19 vaccines few days back, the Serum Institute, which manufactures Covishield, today revised prices of its vaccine for States.

The Serum Institute’s CEO, Adar Poonawalla reduced the price of Covishield vaccine to Rs 300 per dose from Rs 400 for States.

Poonawalla announced the price revision in a tweet and stated, “As a philanthropic gesture on behalf of @SerumInstIndia, 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.”

Pune-based Serum Institute of India earlier announced a price of Rs 400 per dose for its ‘Covishield’ vaccine for state governments and Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals.

On the other hand, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech fixed the price of its Covaxin vaccine at Rs 600 per dose for State governments and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals.

The Central government is purchasing the vaccines at a rate of Rs 150 per dose.

During a meeting chaired by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba with the Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, the vaccine pricing issue was raised on April 26 after States objected to the prices fixed by the two vaccine manufacturers.

Worth mentioning, the vaccine manufacturers will supply 50 per cent of their monthly doses to the Central government and will be free to supply the remaining 50 per cent doses to States and private hospitals.