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Covishield booster to cost ₹600 per dose, says Adar Poonawalla
Adar Poonawalla said it was a matter of time before Covovax was adopted under the national Covid immunisation programme.
The Covishield booster dose will cost ₹600 plus taxes at private vaccination centres, Serum Institute of India’s chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla announced on Friday, after the government opened up precaution doses for all adults in the country, adding that the company’s second Covid-19 vaccine Covovax will cost ₹900 plus taxes once approved by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) for use under the government’s immunisation programme.
Serum Institute of India locally manufactures the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine under the brand name Covishield, and Covovax is the locally manufactured version of the anti-Covid vaccine developed by the US-based Novavax.
“This was very crucial and a very timely decision by the government of India because a lot of people who want to travel were finding it difficult as countries have put restrictions on having boosters to enter restaurants and other things. So, this is going to be very useful from the 10th of April. As far as Covishield and Covovax is concerned both are approved by the regulator; Covishield is approved as a booster, Covovax eventually will be approved as a booster, and will be at ₹900 on the CoWIN app. Covishield will remain at ₹600,” Poonawalla said to the news channel NDTV.
Poonawalla said the company will be offering the vaccine to hospitals at discounted rates.
“It is important to add that we will be offering large discounts to this so that hospitals and distributors can have and earn a margin whilst they sell this product. The final customer or consumer will still have to pay ₹600 for Covishield plus taxes and ₹900 for Covovax plus taxes,” he said.
He assured that it was a matter of time before Covovax was adopted under the national Covid immunisation programme.
“Covovax is approved by the regulator; it is a formality now where the NTAGI committee has to meet and adopt it on to the CoWIN app so that you can get a certificate and use it for children over the age of 12,” he said, adding that Covovax as a booster will probably be available later as NTAGI has to look at some more data.
“We leave it to experts to decide that; the first thing will be that Covovax will be approved for children for dose one and dose two over the age of 12, and then followed by lower age groups all the way down to three that will happen in the coming months.”
The company has stockpiled about 100 million doses of Covovax, and exported about 40 million doses over the past two months.
