Made in India Covaxin to cost Rs 600 per dose for states, Rs 1200 for private hospitals
Ironically, the vaccine price for the Centre, which will receive 50 per cent of the doses, is just Rs 150. The export rate has been set at 15-20 Dollars.
FollowMade in India vaccine Covaxin will be available for Indian states at Rs 600 per dose and for private hospitals at Rs 1200 per dose.
This announcement was made by Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech, who was quick to justify the high cost as a means to recover costs to further "innovation" of other vaccines for intranasal Covid-19, Chikungunya, Zika, Cholera and others.
Ironically, the vaccine price for the Centre, which will receive 50 per cent of the doses, is just Rs 150.Â
The export rate has been set at 15-20 Dollars.
Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Dr Krishna M Ella said that Covaxin is an inactivated and "highly-purified" medicine, which made its manufacturing expensive due to very low yields.
"All costs towards product development, manufacturing and clinical trials were deployed primarily using internal funding and resources of Bharat Biotech," he justified.
A similar justification was offered by the Serum Institute of India when earlier this week announced a price of Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals and Rs 400 per dose for state governments and any new contract by the central government.
In a statement, the SII had said that considering the extremely dire situation currently where the virus is constantly mutating while the public remains at risk, the company will have to ensure sustainability as we must be able to invest in scaling up and expanding our capacity to fight the pandemic and save lives.
