Centre to get 66 crore more doses of Covishield, Covaxin at revised rates

The Centre has placed an order for the procuremnt of 66 crore more COVID-19 vaccine doses of Covishield and Covaxin which is due to be supplied between August and December this year.

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New Delhi: Atleast 66 crore more COVID-19 vaccine doses of Covishield and Covaxin has been ordered by the Centre which is due to be supplied between August and December this year, it will be provided at a revised price of Rs 205 and Rs 215 per dose, respectively.

"An order to procure 66 crore more doses of COVID-19 vaccines--Covishield and Covaxin--to be supplied between August and December, at a revised price of Rs 205 and Rs 215 per dose, respectively, excluding taxes, has been placed," a source told PTI.

The Centre will procure 37.5 crore of Covishield doses from the Serum Institute of India and 28.5 crore Covaxin doses from Bharat Biotech by December, as per officials in a report by PTI. The price of each dose of Covishield amounts to Rs 215.25 and Covaxin Rs 225.75, including taxes, it said.

The Union health ministry which was procuring both the vaccines at Rs 150 per dose, had indicated that the prices would be revised after the new COVID-19 vaccine procurement policy came into effect from June 21. Under the new policy, the ministry will procure 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the drug manufacturers in the country.

The price of vaccine doses for private hospitals would be declared by each vaccine manufacturer, and any subsequent changes would be notified in advance.

The health ministry on Saturday said, more than 41.69 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far.

The Union government had earlier allowed states and private hospitals to procure 50 per cent of the vaccines following demands for decentralisation of the process. However, after states complained of several problems including funding, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the revision of the vaccine guidelines on June 8.