The price of the Covishield vaccine to the states has been reduced from Rs 400 to Rs 300 per dose, effective immediately, Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla announced on Wednesday, 28 April.
"As a philanthropic gesture on behalf of @SerumInstIndia, I hereby reduce the price to the states from Rs.400 to Rs.300 per dose, effective immediately; this will save thousands of crores of state funds going forward. This will enable more vaccinations and save countless lives," Poonawalla tweeted.
Last week, Pune-based SII had announced that it had fixed the price of Covishield at Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals and Rs 400 per dose for state governments.
SII had also said that it was addressing the vaccine shortages in the country by scaling up production.
The vaccine maker had added that for the next two months, 50 percent of their capacity would be served to the Government of India’s vaccination programme, while the other 50 percent would be reserved for state governments and private hospitals.
Ahead of Phase 3 of India’s vaccination drive that starts from 1 May, there’s been a lot of criticism regarding the differential vaccine pricing. While the Centre will continue to get vaccines for Rs 150 a dose, the states and hospitals will be buying them from the open market at a higher price.
Additionally governments of some states have been facing a lot of logistical issues regarding procurement of vaccine doses as well since the country has been facing a shortage.
There were some technical glitches as well as online registration opened up for all citizens above 18 years of age. Although the vaccination process is set to start from 1 May, several citizens complained of not being able to schedule an appointment at the vaccination centres.
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