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A day before booster shots are to be rolled out for all adults in India, the country’s two major vaccine makers cut down the prices. Covishield (by the Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (by Bharat Biotech) will now be priced at ₹225 per dose, while the Centre has capped service charge at the hospitals to a maximum of ₹150 over and above the vaccine price.
In effect, precautionary doses will be available at ₹375 per dose and at private hospitals only. Hospitals said they need clarity on price as the stocks that they have were purchased at higher government approved rates.
Fortis Healthcare, in a statement said, it has not received any communication from the authorities or the vaccine makers on the process for receiving and administering precaution doses to 18 plus, or on the new cost. “The vaccine stock that we are currently holding was purchased at the previously approved government prices. We will resume the vaccinations as soon as we receive clarifications, hopefully by Monday,” it said.
Bharat Biotech clarified that the price differential with any existing stocks of Covaxin in private hospitals shall be compensated in the form of additional doses.
Anyone aged 18 and above is entitled to booster shots post nine months of his/her second dose. About 96 per cent of the 15+ population in the country have received at least one shot, while about 83 per cent of has received both doses.
Vaccine-makers said the decision to cut prices was taken after consultation with the Union Government. Price of Covishield was previously at ₹600 per dose, while Covaxin was priced at ₹1,200.
“We are pleased to announce that after discussion with the Central Government, SII has decided to revise the price of Covishield for private hospitals to ₹225 per dose,” Adar Poonawala, CEO and Owner, SII, wrote on Twitter.
Minutes later, Suchitra Ella, Cofounder and JMD of Bharat Biotech, tweeted, “Announcing #CovaxinPricing. We have decided to revise the price of #Covaxin to ₹225 per dose, for #privatehospitals”.
Earlier in the day, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare during an orientation meeting with Health Secretaries of all States and Union Territories clarified that no fresh registrations are required on CoWin. All vaccinations “must mandatorily be recorded of CoWIN platform” with both options of ‘online appointment’ and ‘walk-in’ registration being available.
First XE case?
Meanwhile, India’s first case of the XE sub-lineage of the Omicron variant was reportedly detected in Gujarat. The State health department informed that samples were collected from a 67-year-old male, who had travelled from Mumbai to Vadodara, via flight, on March 12 and were subsequently sent to the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre for whole genome sequencing.
The Union Health Ministry, though, is yet to confirm the same.
Earlier this week, Mumbai had reported a likely case of the XE variant. However, the report was later denied by the Union Health Ministry.
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