In a series of meeting held by Prime Minister of India the Centre talked ‘liberalizing vaccine pricing so that vaccine manufacturers can sell 50 per cent of their vaccine in the open market. The other 50 per cent for will be for Centre which means the pricing will vary in government and private sector.
Dr Krishna Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech who is the manufacturer of Covaxin has said he would like to get the maximum price to cover all costs. Dr Ella also said that the Bharat Biotech had not asked the government for any money for the clinical trials or any advance money for increasing the capacity of vaccine manufacturing. To meet the demand of phase 3 of the vaccine drive, which will begin from May 1, Bharat Biotech is setting a target of producing 30 million doses. The Centre has approved a payment of about ₹4,500 crore for the two vaccine makers of the country, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech as advance for ramping up their supplies. The price of Covaxin and Covishield in the open market can be around ₹1,000 per dose, while in government facilities, vaccines will remain free. Both the companies supplied vaccines to central government at subsidies rate of around ₹200, which was later negotiated to ₹150. The Centre for the first and second phase of vaccinations decided to vaccinate healthcare workers, frontline workers, people above the age of 45 years were inoculated. For people above 45 years, the government allowed private facilities to charge a maximum of ₹250 for each dose of the vaccine, which includes ₹150 for the vaccine and ₹100 as the service charge.
For the open market, the Centre has not fixed any upper limit. Serum Institute will supply 200 million doses and Bharat Biotech will supply another 90 million doses to the government by July at the pre-agreed rate.
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