Vaccination in India: Vaccination is going to start in India from January 16 to prevent coronavirus on a large scale. Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India has delivered the first batch of 56.5 lakh doses of Covishield. The next shipment will be delivered in February. Meanwhile, the CEO of Serum, Adar Poonawala, made it clear that the price of the vaccine has been kept at Rs 1000 in the private market. The special price of the vaccine is kept at Rs 200 only for the government. It will be Rs 210 with GST. That is, if someone buys a vaccine from the private market, then they will have to spend more than Rs 1000.
Special price for government only
Adar Poonawala said that we have decided to give the first 10 crore doses of coronavirus vaccine to the government at the rate of Rs 200 per dose. This decision has been taken to support the common man, weak, poor and health workers. Poonawala further said that we will give a lot of work to give the vaccine to the Government of India at a cost, but it will be a little over Rs 200. 200 rupees is our cost price. So we have decided to give the vaccine to the government in the initial stages without earning a profit.
When will the vaccine arrive in the private market?
Serum Institute said that when we get permission from the government, then we will sell it in the private market. The cost of the vaccine for the private market will be Rs 1000. The first priority of the serum is the Government of India. The government has ordered 1.1 crores Covishield. 56.5 lakh doses have been delivered. The remaining dose will be supplied by February. The serum says that we can produce 7 to 8 crore doses every month. The company wants to ensure the equitable distribution of vaccine doses.
The serum is in agreement with many countries
Adar Poonawala said that we have agreements with many countries – Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Bangladesh and African countries. These countries are looking forward to India because we have large production facilities. The small companies of the world are not in a position to manufacture Corona Doses in sufficient numbers. India has not yet imposed any ban on the export of Corona vaccine but has not yet approved it despite pressure from Brazil to demand two million doses of Covicield.