Covishield, Covaxin precautionary doses price slashed to ₹225 for private hospitals

Precaution dose of Covid-19 vaccines will be available to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres from April 10

Bharat Biotech has announced a price revision of its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin from Rs 1,200 to Rs 225 per dose for supply in private hospitals.

Serum Institute of India that manufactures Covishield also made a similar announcement, slashing its vaccine's single dose price from Rs 600 to Rs 225.

The decision comes a day ahead of the commencement of precautionary dose drive in the private sector on Sunday. The union health ministry had stated that all those adults above 18 years of age, who have completed nine months since they were administered the second dose are eligible for the third dose.

While the priority groups like senior citizens, health and front line workers are eligible for a free third dose at the government run facilities like during the first and second dose inoculation, others have to pay for the third dose.

The ministry officials held a meeting with their state counterparts advising them to ensure that no hospital charges more than Rs 150 as service charge and there is no mix up of the vaccines. Everyone born between 1963 and 2004 are eligible for the jab, nine months after receiving the second dose.

“Boosters have definitely shown benefit in increasing antibodies and in reducing the severity. The Govt can improve the coverage by offering the booster free of cost to those who cannot afford. At the same time, we need to study the prevalence of antibodies against Omicron, and to estimate the vaccine effectiveness after a third dose is given,” Giridhara R Babu, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India, Bengaluru told DH.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to the states underscoring that the precaution dose will be homologous - same shot that was used for first and second dose.

Private vaccine centres can charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 per dose as service charge over and above the cost of the vaccines.

They would have to maintain the vaccination sites as per the operational guidelines issued by the ministry and recording of all vaccinations on the CoWIN platform is mandatory. Both "on line" appointments and "walk in" appointment slots are available for vaccination.

Out of more than 185 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines used in India so far, close to 152 crore doses were of Covishield and 31 crore doses were of Covaxin.

On Saturday, Bharat Biotech's joint managing director Suchitra Ella tweeted that they have decided to revise the price of Covaxin from Rs 1,200 to Rs 225 per dose for private hospitals, “in consultation with the central government.”

Vaccine makers gear up for booster shot administration

Bharat Biotech has requested the private hospitals to provide COVAXIN at the revised rate effective from 10 April. The price differential with any existing stocks of COVAXIN in private hospitals shall be compensated in the form of additional doses, the company said in a statement.

"Bharat Biotech has more than 50 million doses of COVAXIN readily available in vials, and over 200 million doses as drug substance. Additional production capacity is also available to meet product demand."

Covaxin, indigenously developed in collaboration with ICMR- National Institute of Virology, Pune and Covishield were the two Covid-19 vaccines approved for administration since January last year.

“SII has decided to revise the price of COVISHIELD vaccine for private hospitals from Rs 600 to Rs 225 per dose. We once again commend this decision from the Centre to open precautionary dose to all 18+,” tweeted Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Pune based company.

On April 1, Bharat Biotech had announced “temporary slowing down” of production of Covaxin across its manufacturing facilities “foreseeing a decrease in demand.”

The firm said that it “will focus on pending facility maintenance, process and facility optimization activities” in the coming days.

A day later, the World Health Organization revealed that it has suspended the supply of Covaxin through the UN procurement agencies, and “recommended that countries using the vaccine take action as appropriate.”

The suspension is following WHO inspection of Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing facilities in March, “and the need to conduct process and facility upgrade to address recently identified deficiencies in good manufacturing practices (GMP).”

Bharat Biotech said that it is addressing the GMP deficiencies and is developing a corrective and preventive action plan for submission to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) and WHO.

In the interim and as a precautionary measure, the Hyderabad based company has indicated that it will suspend production of Covaxin for export.

“As a consequence, supply will be interrupted for the foreseeable future,” the WHO said in a statement on 2 April.

However, the world health body said that “the risk assessment to date does not indicate change in the risk–benefit ratio.” The data, available to WHO, indicate the vaccine is effective and no safety concerns exist

WHO had issued Emergency Use Listing for Covaxin in November.

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