Bharat Biotech, manufacturer of Covaxin, on Thursday
has reduced the price per dose for state governments to Rs 400 from Rs 600. The
decision from the Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer comes a day after Serum
Institute of India slashed the vaccine price for states and capped it at Rs 300
per dose amid the worrisome situation of the second Covid wave in the nation.
Bharat Biotech on Thursday issued a statement, “The vaccine manufacturer is deeply concerned with the critical pandemic circumstances in the country at this time. Recognizing the enormous challenges to the public health care system, we have mode Covaxin available to state governments at a price of Rs. 400/dose.”
"We wish to be transparent in our approach to pricing, which was determined by internally funded product development, several operationally-intensive BSL-3 manufacturing facilities (the first of its kind in our country) and clinical trials," the statement added.
Notably, the company has only slashed the price for the state governments and has kept the same price for private hospitals i.e. Rs 1200 per dose. Also, the SII kept the same procurement price for the private hospitals at Rs 600 per dose.
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Earlier on April 25, Bharat Biotech had announced the Cowaxin procurement price for the private hospitals and states at Rs 1200 and Rs 600 respectively.
A rationale behind slashing the price is that the Centre had asked both vaccine manufacturers to explore the possibility to drop the price so a vast proportion of the population could be inoculated in the least possible time.
Cowaxin has been developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the National Institute of Virology and the Indian Council of Medical Research. The vaccine was initially launched on January 3 to use in an emergency.