Corbevax vaccine for kids aged 12-14 years priced at Rs 990 in private hospitals, Rs 145 in govt facilities
The Centre on Monday announced that Covid-19 vaccination for children in the age group will begin from Wednesday, March 16, 2022.
FollowThe Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax being administered to children between 12-14 years of age, will cost Rs 990 per dose in private hospitals and Rs 145 per dose in government facilities, Hindustan Times reported.
As those in the 12-14 age group are getting Covid-19 vaccines from Wednesday, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has urged the central government to include its Covovax in the national vaccination programme, reported PTI.
The Centre on Monday announced that Covid-19 vaccination for children in the age group will begin from Wednesday, March 16, 2022. In a statement, the Union Health Ministry said that the decision was taken after due deliberations with scientific bodies.
During the press conference on Wednesday, Biological E Limited said that to date, 30 crore vaccines have been produced as part of the commitment made to the Government of India.
Managing Director, Biological E. Limited Mahima Datla said, “We have achieved a capacity to produce over 100 million doses per month in order to ensure adequate supply and we are able to respond to any increasing demand too, should the need arise. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has undergone a lot of mutations in a short duration. In clinical trials, Corbevax induced immune response demonstrated consistent neutralization of the ancestral SARS-COV-2 strain as well as the Variants of Concern such as Beta, Delta and Omicron.”
She added, “The shelf life of the vaccine is determined to be 2 years right now, but it is not static. The expiry date on the vaccine is dynamic and can be changed with further experimentations.”
Corbevax is administered through an intramuscular route with two doses scheduled 28 days apart and is stored at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius. Corbevax, developed by the Hyderabad-based pharma company in collaboration with the Texas Children’s Hospital Centre for Vaccine Development and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, is India's first indigenously developed protein subunit vaccine against Covid-19.
Like other vaccines, Corbevax targets the spike protein on the virus particle’s surface. However, instead of instructing cells to replicate them, the vaccine injects a small volume of cloned spike proteins grown in a lab.
