Bharat Biotech, the Hyderabad-based COVID vaccine maker, said on Tuesday that the supply price of its vaccine Covaxin to the central government at Rs 150 per dose is not sustainable in the long run. Hence, a higher price in private markets is required to offset its operational costs.

It said there are live examples of such pricing policies where Human Papilloma virus vaccine is priced for GAVI supplies at $4.5/dose (Rs 320), but is also available in the private market at Rs 3,500.

Rotavirus vaccines are supplied to the Govt of India at Rs 60/dose, but is also available in the private market at Rs 1,700/dose. The prices for COVID-19 vaccines internationally have varied between Rs 730 - Rs 2,700/dose.

On why Coaxin is more expensive for the private sector, Bharat Biotech said another key point of discussion has been about pricing our vaccines for private sector players which is significantly higher than that given to governments and large procurement agencies. This is purely due to fundamental business reasons, ranging from low procurement volumes, high distribution costs and retail margins among few others.

As directed by the Govt of India, less than 10% of our total production of Covaxin to date has been supplied to private hospitals, while most of the remaining quantity was supplied to State and Central Governments. In such a scenario the weighted average price of Covaxin for all supplies realized by Bharat Biotech is less than Rs 250/dose.

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