Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin To Cost Rs 1200 For Private Hospitals, Rs 600 For State Govts

Bharat Biotech, a Covid vaccine manufacturing company based in Hyderabad, in a statement on Saturday, said that Covaxin will cost Rs 1200 for private hospitals in India and Rs 600 to state governments.

It also said that the Covid vaccine will be exported at a cost ranging between 15-20 USD.

In a statement, Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Krishna M Ella said the company is supplying the vaccine to the central government at Rs 150 per dosage and the government on its part is distributing it free of cost.

"We would like to state that more than 50 per cent of our capacities have been reserved for central government supplies," Ella said.

Recovering the cost is essential in the journey of innovation towards other vaccines such as intranasal Covid-19, Chikungunya, Zika, Cholera and others, he added.

Earlier this week, the Serum Institute of India (SII) announced a price of Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals and Rs 400 per dose for state governments and for any new contract by the central government.

When SII announced its new price list, the opposition parties had criticised the differential pricing for COVID-19 vaccines, saying it was discriminatory and will benefit only a "few big industrialists" while common people will suffer.

SII currently charges the central government Rs 150 per dose for the existing supplies.

(With PTI inputs.)