COVID-19 vaccine recipients have no option to choose from 2 options for now: Health ministry
Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said there will be a gap of 28 days between two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and its effectiveness can be seen only after 14 days.
FollowNew Delhi: The Indian government has ordered 1.1 crore doses from the Serum Institute of India and 55 lakh doses from Bharat Biotech, said health secretary Rajesh Bhushan.
However, the government hinted on Tuesday that for now, the Covid vaccine recipients will not have the option to choose from the two vaccines recently approved for restricted emergency use in India.
Replying to a question at a press conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, "At many places in the world, more than one vaccine is being administered, but presently, in no country, vaccine recipients have the option of choosing the shots."
He further said there will be a gap of 28 days between two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine and its effectiveness can be seen only after 14 days.
"So we urge people to keep following COVID appropriate behaviour," he said.
Serum Institute will provide the coronavirus vaccine at Rs 200 per dose, while Covaxin would provide for Rs 206 per dose to the government. Bharat Biotech will provide 16.5 lakh doses of Covaxin free of cost to the government.
Bhushan also said that there are more vaccines in the works. Sputnik V, developed by Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology as well as the coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson is likely to cost Rs 734 per dose. Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine will be priced at Rs 2,800 for two doses, while Moderna's will cost around Rs 2,300-2,700 per dose.
India will launch its Covid-19 vaccination drive from January 16 with priority to be given to nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers.
