As India makes efforts to widen the ambit of its coronavirus vaccination drive, the Serum Institute of India has issued fresh prices of its Covishield vaccine. While the state governments can acquire the vaccines at a price of Rs 400 per dose, the private hospitals will get the vaccines at the price of Rs 400 per dose. The Covishield shot as such is cheaper than the international vaccines. While American vaccines cost Rs 1,500 per dose, Chinese and Russian vaccines cost Rs 750 per dose.
“For the next two months, we will address the limited capacity by scaling up the vaccine production,” SII said in a statement. It said 50% of the capacity will be given to Centre, remaining 50% will be supplied to state governments and private hospitals.
This move comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged vaccine manufacturers to continuously scale up their production capacity to inoculate all Indians in the shortest possible time. Interacting with vaccine manufacturers from across the country via video conferencing, Modi said the private sector will play an even more active role in the vaccination drive in the coming days and that this will require better coordination between hospitals and the industry.
He also assured all possible support and smooth approval process for the vaccine candidates which are currently under trial phase.
The health infrastructure of our private sector has played a big role in the country’s fight against COVID-19, he said.
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