India To Get Around 60 Million Covishield COVID Vaccine Doses By Feb; 4 More Vaccines In Making

Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla said they are planning to provide 50-60 million vials to the government either by January or February.

The vaccine-maker is currently rolling out 11 million doses of Covishield vaccine in India.

Covishield at Rs 1,000 In private markets

The SII will be selling Oxford-AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine - Covishield - at Rs 1,000 per dose in private markets, said Adar Poonawalla on January 12.

ANI

He said the first 100 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were sold only to the Government of India at a special price of Rs 200 because the vaccine maker wanted to support the common man, the vulnerable, the poor, and healthcare workers, ANI reported.

“To the Government of India, we will still maintain a very reasonable price, but it will be a little bit more than Rs 200 which is our cost price. So, we decided not to make any profit on the first 100 million doses, as we wanted to support the nation and the Government of India,” he said.

Four more vaccines being developed

Four more COVID-19 vaccines are being developed and their manufacturers may approach the drug controller for emergency use authorisation, the Health Ministry said.

Reuters

Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said Zydus Cadila, Sputnik V, Biological E and Gennova are other vaccines that are currently in an advanced clinical trials stage in India.

"In the coming days you may see some of these vaccines too approaching the drug controller for emergency use authorisation," Bhushan said.