The Serum Institute of India will sell Covishield doses to hospitals and centres at a discounted rate of below Rs 600 plus tax, Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of SII, told CNBC-TV18, as the Central government on Friday announced that the precautionary dose of Covid-19 can now be administered to all those above the age of 18 who have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose.
The end user will have to pay the price as per the Cowin application, he said. The final price of the vaccine dose to the consumer will include hospital charges, among others.
Poonawalla said that all new SII orders will come with a free replacement policy. “For future orders, Serum will replace expired vaccines for new orders placed by hospitals. No hospital should ever have to throw away vaccines,” he said, as the booster dose vaccination is set to begin from April 10 at private centres.
Meanwhile, Covovax will be available on Cowin in 10-14 days, depending on National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) clearance, Poonawalla said.
“Covovax will be available at Rs 900 plus tax. We have about 100 million doses of Covovax ready. Hope NTAGI clears Covovax in the next 10 days,” Poonawalla said, adding, “We have already exported about 40 million doses of Covovax over the past two months.”
“We now have enough capacity to vaccinate the whole nation in about three months,” said Poonawalla.
So far, around 96% of the 15-plus population in the country has received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, while 83% has received both the doses. Earlier, the government had started booster shots for those above 60 and healthcare workers.
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