E-Paper
SII awaits Centre’s purchase nod for Covishield vaccine’s second batch
Pune: Pune-based pharma major Serum Institute of India (SII) awaits the purchase order for the second lot of Covishield vaccine
Pune: Pune-based pharma major Serum Institute of India (SII) awaits the purchase order for the second lot of Covishield vaccine. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget 2021-22 on Monday, said that the country would spend a ₹35 thousand crore for Covid vaccination. Covishield is one of the two vaccines approved by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation on India for emergency use approval and is being used to vaccinate healthcare workers (HCW) and frontline workers in the first phase of nationwide Covid-19 vaccination.
The first purchase order for Covishield from the government was for 11 million doses which began to be dispatched from January 11 and the vaccine doses were being administered to HCWs beginning January 16.
The doses were purchased at ₹210 per dose, including taxes.
SII executive director Suresh Jadhav said, “We are yet to get any confirmation on the second lot of the vaccine. In fact, we are even awaiting a nod from the ministry of external affairs to transport the doses out of the country. For every consignment we need the approval of the government and despite having orders in place from other countries, almost 3-4 of our consignments await nod from the government. Currently, we have a stock of about 70 million doses and are mass producing 50 million doses per month as of now.”
Commenting on the budget, Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer at SII said, “Globally, spending on healthcare infrastructure and vaccine has given countries and their economies the best bang for their buck. Investments in these areas have prevented hospitalisations and resulted in a healthier and more productive workforce, thereby leading to an efficient economy. Therefore, we welcome the FM’s emphasis on healthcare spending and immunisation, especially for Covid-19 and the pneumococcal vaccines as this will help India recover rapidly from the pandemic. Hopefully, this will also encourage more innovation and expansion in the sector.”
