The Serum Institute of India on Wednesday announced that it plans to reduce price of its Covishield vaccine for states from Rs 400 to Rs 300 per dose. The decision was announced by CEO Adar Poonawalla, who said that this reduction of price is a philanthropic gesture on the part of Serum. Poonawalla added that the price cut will save thousands of crores of state funds as well as countless lives.
“As a philanthropic gesture on behalf of Serum Institute of India, I hereby reduce the price to the states from Rs 400 to Rs.300 per dose, effective immediately; this will save thousands of crores of state funds going forward. This will enable more vaccinations and save countless lives,” Poonawalla wrote in his tweet.
The pharma company’s move came after widespread criticism of its pricing policy as it has sold the initial doses of Covishield to the central government at Rs 150 per dose.
According to official sources, the central government on Monday had asked SII and Bharat Biotech to lower the prices of their COVID-19 vaccines amid criticism from various states who accused the companies of profiteering during such a major crisis.
While Serum had priced Covishield at Rs 400 for state government hospitals and Rs 600 for private hospitals. Bharat Biotech priced its vaccine at Rs 600 for state government hospitals and Rs 1,200 for private hospitals.
The issue of vaccine pricing was discussed at a meeting chaired by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba. Many states have objected to the different prices for the vaccines.
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Last week, SII had defended the pricing of the Covishield vaccine, saying the earlier price was based on advance funding and now it has to invest in scaling up and expanding capacity to produce more shots.
The Centre has also announced that state governments and private entities will be allowed to procure vaccines straight from the manufacturers from 1 May.
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