Serum Institute caps Covishield vaccine price at Rs 600/dose for private hospitals, Rs 400 for state govts

Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) on Wednesday, 21 April, announced that it had fixed the price of their Covishield vaccine at Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals and Rs 400 per dose for state governments.

In a statement, SII has said, "For the next two months, we will address the limited capacity by scaling up the vaccine production. Going ahead, 50% of our capacities will be served to the Government of India's vaccination program, and the remaining 50% of the capacity will be for the state governments and private hospitals."

Comparing the prices with the other vaccines in the world, SII has stated that while American vaccines are priced at Rs 1,500, Russian and Chinese vaccines would cost Rs 750 per dose, making Covishield a cheaper option.

The world's largest vaccine manufacturer said that the vaccines will be made available in retail and free trade after four-five months.

Citing “complexity and urgency of the situation” and challenges in supplying doses independently to corporate entities, the Serum Institute urged corporates and private individuals to access vaccines through the state-facilitated machinery and private health systems.

In an order earlier this week, the Centre said all above 18 years of age are eligible for vaccination from May 1. As it liberalised the vaccination drive, the government allowed states, private hospitals and industrial establishments to procure the vaccine doses directly from manufacturers.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged India's vaccine manufacturers to continuously scale up their production capacity to vaccinate all Indians in the shortest possible time. India on Wednesday recorded nearly 3 lakh fresh cases in its biggest jump so far. The death toll has also gone up by over 2,000 in a day.

• Covishield
• Serum Institute
• private hospitals
• vaccine price
• coronavirus
• Covid-19