Vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech on Saturday confirmed that its Covaxin shots will cost Rs 600 per dose for state hospitals and Rs 1,200 for private hospitals. The Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company also confirmed it will charge between $15 and $20 per dose for exports. 

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In a statement, the company said it has reserved 50% of its capacity for the central government’s supplies, for which it charges Rs 150 per dose and which is distributed free of cost as part of the Centre’s mass vaccination program.  

“Recovering of costs is an essential in the journey of innovation towards other vaccines such as Intranasal COVID-19, Chikungunya, Zika, Cholera and others. Our core mission for the last 25 years has been to provide affordable, yet world-class healthcare solutions for the globe,” the firm’s chairman Dr Krishna M Ella said in the statement. 

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The statement further stated that Covaxin is an inactivated and highly purified vaccine, making manufacturing expensive due to very low process yields.

“All costs towards product development, manufacturing facilities and clinical trials were deployed primarily using internal funding and resources of Bharat Biotech,” it added.

Meanwhile, the Covishield vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca/Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), will cost Rs 400 for state hospitals and Rs 600 for private hospitals.

Earlier today, SII responsded to criticism over high vaccine pricing, saying its shots were the most affordable in the market. 

The third phase of India’s COVID-19 drive begins on May 1, for which all adults aged above 18 will be eligible to be inoculated.