Bharat Biotech announces price of Covaxin - Rs 600 for states, Rs 1200 for private hospitals

Covaxin, the indigenous vaccine against COVID-19 will be available for state governments at Rs 600 per dose and private hospitals at Rs 1,200 per dose, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech announced on Saturday.

"Following the Government of India directives, we announce the prices of COVAXIN vaccines - Rs 600 per dose for state hospitals and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals," reads a Bharat Biotech release.

The vaccine manufacturer stated that Covaxin will be also be exported and the export price would be between USD 15-20 (Rs 1,123 to Rs 1,498 approximately).

Bharat Biotech - COVAXIN Announcement pic.twitter.com/cKvmFPfKlr

— BharatBiotech (@BharatBiotech) April 24, 2021

In a statement, Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Krishna M Ella said the company is supplying the vaccine to the central government at Rs 150 per dosage and the government on its part is distributing it free of cost.

"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% of our capacities have been reserved for central government supplies," Ella said.

Recovering the cost is essential in the journey of innovation towards other vaccines such as intranasal Covid-19, Chikungunya, Zika, Cholera and others, he added.

Covaxin was developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology.

Earlier, the Serum Institute of India (SII) fixed the prices of Covishield vaccine at Rs 400 per dose for state governments and Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals.

Besides Covaxin, India approved the EUA for two other vaccines Covishield and Sputnik V for its inoculation program against COVID-19.

Everyone above 18 years of age will be eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 from May 1, the central government said on Monday and also liberalised the vaccination drive to allow states, private hospitals and industrial establishments to procure the doses directly from manufacturers.