E-Paper
Centre says scientific data on Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax is very promising
The health ministry last week in a release said that it will make an advance payment of ₹1,500 crore to Biological E.
The Centre on Tuesday said that the provisional scientific data of Biological E’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine, Corbevax, is promising. Dr VK Paul, Niti Aayog member (health) said that the vaccine is likely to be available by September.
“The provisional scientific data of Biological E’s Corbevax is very promising. We shall wait for Biological E to announce the price of Corbevax,” Dr Paul said during the daily Covid-19 press briefing.
Paul said that the government has also placed an order to purchase 300 million doses of Corbevax. He also said that the Centre is waiting for Biological E to announce the price of Corbevax and said that the financial aid given by the government will help cover the costs of procuring the doses of the vaccine.
Corbevax is a RBD protein subunit vaccine and is currently undergoing its Phase III clinical trials.
“We should wait for Biological E to announce the price of Corbevax. It shall also depend on the negotiations with the company and the financial aid that has been given will meet part of the price of the vaccine. The government has placed an order to purchase 30 crore doses of Biological E's vaccine which will be available by September,” Paul said during the press conference.
During the briefing, Paul said that the government has placed an order to purchase 440 million doses of Covishied and Covaxin from Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech respectively. Out of these 440 million doses, 250 million doses will be procured from SII and the remaining 190 million doses will be procured from Bharat Biotech. These doses will be available starting from now till December 2021.
“The government placed an order for procurement of 25 crores doses of Covishield and 19 crore doses of Covaxin. These 44 crore doses of Covishield (25 crore doses) and Covaxin (19 crore doses) will be available till December 2021 starting now,” he further added.
Paul also said that 30% of the advance for procuring these vaccines have been released to both the vaccine manufacturers. The health ministry last week in a release said that it will also make an advance payment of ₹1,500 crore to Biological E.
