Covaxin: India's new round of vaccination drive will start on May 1 (File)
Bharat Biotech's Covaxin will cost Rs 600 for state governments and Rs 1,200 for private hospitals, the company said in a statement on Saturday. For exports, the COVID-19 vaccine will cost in the range of $15 to $20.
The other vaccine maker in the country, Serum Institute of India, will sell its Covishield at Rs 400 a shot to states and Rs 600 to private hospitals.
"Recovering costs is essential in the journey of innovation towards other vaccines such as Intranasal COVID-19...Our core mission for the last 25 years has been to provide affordable, yet world-class healthcare solutions for the globe," Bharat Biotech chairman and managing director Krishna M Ella said in the statement.
The company said Covaxin is an inactivated and highly purified vaccine, making manufacturing expensive due to very low process yields. "All costs towards product development, manufacturing facilities and clinical trials were deployed primarily using internal funding and resources of Bharat Biotech," the company said.
India's new round of vaccination drive will start on May 1, and this time those above 18 can take the jab.
The centre has said states should try to register more private vaccination centres in "mission mode".
"The CoWIN platform has now stabilised and is working at scale flawlessly. It is equipped to handle the complexities of the new phase of vaccination starting from May 1," said Dr RS Sharma, chairman of the empowered group on technology and data management on COVID-19.
Mr Sharma said it is important for states to upload correct and timely data as any incorrect data would compromise the integrity of the entire system. The centre asked states to pay "fair and regular remuneration" to frontline health workers.
The surge in Covid cases in recent weeks have led to what is now being called a deadlier second wave of the pandemic. Social media is full of stories of desperate people trying to find oxygen or a hospital bed for their friends and family.
More and more people this time are complaining of breathlessness, which needs oxygen support. However, the supply of oxygen has become severely limited due to the sudden jump in demand across cities and towns.
