New Delhi: Amid criticism from various political parties, Serum Institute of India on Saturday defended pricing Covishield vaccine at 1.5 times the initial rate, saying the earlier price was based on advance funding and now it has to invest in scaling up and expanding capacity to produce more shots.
Serum Institute of India (SII), which manufactures AstraZeneca's vaccine Covishield at its Pune facility, earlier this week announced a price of Rs 600 per dose and at Rs 400 for state governments and any new contract by the central government. Covishield is the most used Covid-19 vaccine in the country.
Also read: SII borrows money from banks to scale up Covishield production
This compared to Rs 150 per dose it charges the central government for the existing supplies.
"There was an inaccurate comparison done between the global prices of the vaccine with India," SII said. "Covisheld is the most affordable Covid-19 vaccine available in the market today."
The initial price, it said, was "kept 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," it said.
"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."
SII went on to add that only a limited portion of SII's 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," it added.
Sonia Gandhi, other leaders raise questions on vaccine pricing
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the new COVID-19 vaccine policy that allowed vaccine makers to sell 50 per cent of vaccines to the Central Government and the remaining portion to state governments and private hospitals.
She claimed that as a consequence of this policy, vaccine manufacturer - Serum Institute of India has announced a differential pricing mechanism - Rs 150 per dose for the Central Government, Rs 400 per dose for State Government and Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals.
This means that citizens will be compelled to pay these high rates to be vaccinated, she alleged, adding that this will also bleed the finances of state governments.
"This begs the question, how can the same vaccine manufactured by the same company have three different prices? There is no rationale or justification that allows for such arbitrary distinction," she said.
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Echoing her views, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) working president and Telangana Municipal Minister K.T. Rama Rao lashed out at the Centre on the vaccine policy.
Taking to twitter, he said: “We agreed for One Nation - One Tax (GST). But now we see, One Nation - Two different Vaccine prices!? For Govt of India @ Rs 150 And State Govts @ Rs 400.”
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh alleged that Rs 400 per dose price is higher than what other countries are paying for the same vaccine.
“COVISHIELD @ ₹400 for new govt procurement is higher than what govts of US, UK, EU, Saudi, Bangladesh & SA pay. Made in India & highest price for India? By SII's own admission profits are made even at ₹150,” he tweeted on Saturday.
(With Agency Inputs)
