Serum Institute of India will sell Covishield to hospitals and centers at a subsidized rate of less than Rs 600, but the end user will still have to pay the price as per the coin application, Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of SII, told CNBC-TV18. As the central government announced on Friday that a precautionary dose of COVID-19 can now be given to all those above the age of 18, who have completed nine months of the administration of the second dose.
The final price for the consumer will be inclusive of hospital charges.
Poonawalla said that if a vaccine runs out, all new SII orders will have a free replacement. “For future orders, Serum will replace expired vaccines for new orders placed by hospitals. No hospital should ever throw away vaccines, as the precautionary dose vaccination at private centers is set to begin on April 10.
Meanwhile, Covovax will be available on Cowin in 10-14 days, depending on the approval of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), Poonawalla said.
“Kovovax will be available at Rs 900 plus tax. We have about 100 million doses of Kovovax ready. Hopefully NTAGI will approve Kovovax in the next 10 days.”
“Now we have enough capacity to vaccinate the entire country in about three months,” Poonawalla said.
So far, about 96% of all over 15 population in the country have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while about 83% have received both. Earlier, the government had introduced booster shots for people above 60 and health workers.
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