Serum Defends Its ‘Highest Global Price’ For Covishield In India

Earlier this week Serum Institute of India (SII) has announced the Covid-19 vaccine prices and this raked up a row. For the Centre the vaccine is priced at Rs 150 while for the state governments, it is Rs 400 and for private hospitals is Rs 600. During then Serum Institute added that these prices are comparatively lower than other countries.

However on Saturday, a national print media carried an exclusive feature that Serum Institute’s Covishield vaccine prices are higher than global prices. The article stated that in the USA, European Union and UK, the prices of Covid-19 vaccine are $4, $2.15 – $3.50 and $3 respectively. This news item garnered a lot of attention and many lashed out at Serum Institute for providing misleading information.

In order to defend it’s pricing of Covid-19 vaccine, SII has issued a media statement yet again and explained its policy in fixing the prices. “The initial prices were kept very low globally as it was based on advanced funding given by those countries for at-risk vaccine manufacturing. The initial supply price of Covishield for all government immunization programme including India has been lowest,” states the second para of the media statement.

Adding, “Only a limited portion of SII’s volume will be sold to private hospitals at INR 600 per dose. The price of the vaccine is still lower than a lot of other medical treatment and essentials required to treat Covid-19 and other life threatening diseases.”

Concluding SII stated that the confusion regarding the vaccine pricing is laid to rest and they are maintaining absolute transparency.