NEW DELHI, Mar 11: The centre has re-negotiated with the Pune-based Serum Institute of India of the procurement price of “Covishield” and has been offered the further doses of the Covid-19 vaccine at significantly lower price than the initial rate of purchase.
The Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Thursday said the price of Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, has been renegotiated. “We have renegotiated the price which is significantly lower than ₹200 per dose,” the secretary said. Though he did not disclose the price, it was learnt to be around ₹157.50 per dose at the rate the government would procure the vaccine.
However, it is not clear whether this will impact the amount that people are paying to get vaccinated at private hospitals. In the second phase of pan-India vaccination where senior citizens and people with co-morbidities between the age group of 45 and 59 are getting inoculated, private hospitals have been allowed to charge around ₹250 which includes ₹100 for the administration of the dose, thereby reducing the price of the vaccine dose to ₹150.
Before the first phase of the vaccination began on January 16, India procured 110 lakh doses of Covishield at the cost of ₹200 per dose, excluding ₹10 extra. From Bharat Biotech, the Centre had procured 38.5 lakh dosed at a rate of ₹295 per dose. But as Bharat Biotech provided 16.5 lakh doses free of cost, the price was around ₹206. In later phases, the Centre procured several crores of doses at the previous rate only.
As vaccination has been thrown open to the public belonging to priority groups, both Covaxin and Covishield are being equally charged at ₹250. The state governments are not bearing any cost for vaccination as the Centre is procuring and supplying the doses.
The ministry, however, did not mention whether a similar price negotiation is going on with Bharat Biotech.
More than 2.56 crore doses of Covi-19 vaccines have been administered till Thursday. This includes more than 67 lakh people above 60 years and people aged 45-60 years with comorbidities, apart from 71 lakh first doses and 40 lakh second doses have been given to healthcare workers and 70 lakh first doses and 6 lakh second doses have been given to frontline workers till date, the health ministry said.