How Much Will Serum Institute’s Covishield Vaccine Cost? Adar Poonawalla Answers

Covishield will commercially be available at Rs 1,000 per dose if the Centre allows its sale in private market.

New Delhi: A day after India’s drugs regulator approved Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla revealed the prices of the vaccine, saying that it will commercially be available at Rs 1,000 per dose if the Centre allows its sale in the private market.

Yesterday, Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had approved Covishield and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country on the basis of recommendations by a COVID-19 Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

Speaking about the prices of the vaccine, Poonawalla asserted that the company will give the vaccine to the government ar Rs 200. “We are giving it a very special price of Rs 200 for the first hundred million doses. Then there will be tendering and then different prices will be available,” NDTV quoted Poonawalla as saying.

He also claimed that SII’s Covishield will be cheaper than the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and its transportation is also easy as compared to the others.

“We are ready to provide the vaccine for the government. We have sent our proposal and are waiting for the contract to be signed with the government. The vaccine will be made available to the government within 10 days of the contract,” he added.