On Saturday, announcing the price, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin will be exported and the export price would be between $15-20 (Rs 1,123 to Rs 1,498 approximately).
The Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech , will be available at a price of Rs 600 per dose for state governments and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals.
Justifying the high price for its Covaxin, Bharat Biotech said it is an “inactivated and highly purified vaccine” and its manufacturing was expensive due to “very low process yields”.
In a statement, Bharat Biotech said it is “deeply concerned” by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in India and rest of the world.
“Bharat Biotech is honoured to develop, manufacture and supply Covaxin for India’s vaccine rollout at Rs 150 per dose, which is distributed for free by the Government of India. We would like to state that more than 50 per cent of our capacities have been reserved for central government supplies,” the statement said.
The announcement comes days after the Serum Institute of India announced price of its Covishield vaccine. At present, apart from Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Covishield is the only other Covid-19 vaccine which is being used in India’s vaccination drive.
The Serum Institute has fixed Covishiled’s price at Rs 400 for state governments and Rs 600 for private hospitals. The vaccine would also be made available to the central government at Rs 400 per dose once the existing contract for Rs 150 a dose for the first 100 million doses ends.
