Pune: Addressing the ongoing public scepticism and confusion towards the pricing of COVISHIELD, the Serum Institute of India (SII) today highlighted and clarified certain facts.
The SII stated that Government procurement for countrywide immunization programs in all countries including India has been at a far lower price as the volumes are very large. For instance, based on the market conditions, prices of many vaccines in the private market including our pneumococcal vaccine are sold at a higher free-economy price, whereas for the government it is almost 1/3rd of the free market price.
Furthermore, there was an inaccurate comparison done between the global prices of the vaccine with India. COVISHIELD is the most affordable COVID-19 vaccine available in the market today. The initial prices were kept very low globally as it was based on advance 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 the lowest,
The current situation is extremely dire; the virus is constantly mutating while the public remains at risk. Identifying the uncertainty, we have to ensure sustainability as we must be able to invest in scaling up and expanding our capacity to fight the pandemic and save lives.
Only a limited portion of SIIs volume will be sold to private hospitals at Rs 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.
Furthermore, in the interest of public health, it is important for the market to open-up for other vaccines from across the world. This will accelerate and advance the immunisation program of our country.
“We hope this lay to rest the confusion for which we are happy to in a fully transparent manner explain our various pricing policies,” the SII said in the statement.
We at @SerumInstIndia have for the past five decades been at the forefront of supplying vaccines and saving lives globally. We care about and respect every human life and strongly believe in transparency, and thus we hope our statement below can clear any confusions. pic.twitter.com/YQ3x38BuFL
— SerumInstituteIndia (@SerumInstIndia) April 24, 2021
