Centre increases vaccine prices, will buy Covishield at Rs 215, Covaxin at Rs 225

The Central government has decided to increase prices of Covid-19 vaccines—Covishield and Covaxin to Rs. 215 and Rs. 225 per dose respectively from Rs. 150 per dose earlier.

The government has now placed an order for 66 crore more doses to be supplied between August and December for a little over Rs. 14,500 crore.

Earlier the government announced that it would revise vaccine prices after the revised procurement plan became effective from June 21, 2021. Manufacturers had been demanding a rise in prices of vaccines to fund their capacity expansion.

Presently, manufacturers can only supply 25 per cent of vaccines to private hospitals at rates fixed by the government. Covishield prices have been fixed at Rs. 780 excluding GST while prices of Covaxin and Sputnik V have been fixed at Rs. 1,410 and Rs. 1,145 respectively. Hospitals can add a service charge of maximum Rs. 150 per dose.

So far, the central government has procured over 40.31 crore doses. With the exception of the first couple of orders when Covaxin was priced at Rs. 295 per dose and Covisheld at Rs. 200 per dose, the central government has procured vaccines for Rs. 150.

In March, the central government ordered 12 crore vaccines at Rs .150 per dose. In May when state governments were also procuring vaccines, they were paying Rs 400 for Covaxin and Rs. 300 for Covishield.