Bharat Biotech plans to increase Covaxin supply for private sector

The Hyderabad-based company has also requested the government to revise Covaxin’s price for the public sector

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is likely to increase its Covid-19 vaccine supply to the private sector from 10 per cent to 25 per cent next month, according to a top representative of the company.

“Since January, we were supplying less than 10% to the private sector, and now the government has told us that we can increase it up to 25% for future deals. From next month, we will look at revising the distribution pattern, and... it is going to move towards 25%,” a company executive from the product development team told Hindustan Times.

On June 7, the central government announced a price cap on service charges for Covid-19 vaccines at private hospitals. With a cap of Rs 150, Covaxin is sold to private hospitals at Rs 1,200.

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The company has requested the government to revise Covaxin’s price for the public sector, saying a service charge of Rs 150 per dose is non-competitive and unsustainable in the long run. “There are future orders that the central government is discussing with us. We are looking at requesting a better price. It is not just the cost of vaccines, but also the distribution cost of supplies to states that we have to take care of... that increases the overall cost... there needs to be a better price,” he said.

No change is expected in the price of Covaxin for the private sector as of now.

Earlier, Bharat Biotech defended the high cost of its vaccine due to several expenses of vaccine production.

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The company also plans to increase its production capacity in a step-wise manner in the coming four to five months and produce 60-70 million doses every month by November-December.

“The current production capacity is 25 million doses per month, and this is likely to be maintained till August-September this year, after which more supplies will happen. In the next two months, we will be starting production at two of our facilities in Ankleshwar, Gujarat, and Bengaluru, Karnataka. These facilities are being re-purposed and the production is likely to start in the next two months,” the executive said.