Biological E slashes price for vaccine from Rs 990 to Rs 400 per dose

The market price (including GST and hospital charges) stood at 990 per dose.

The government approved the use of Covovax in early May at private vaccination centres, adding that the doses of the vaccine were not going to be purchased by the government for its vaccination drive. (File)

After Covaxin and Covishield, the Hyderabad-based vaccine manufacturer Biological E dropped the prices of its Covid-19 vaccine to Rs 250 per dose (including GST). After accounting for Rs 150 to be charged by the health centres for their services, the end users will pay Rs 400 per dose of Corbevax, the company said. The market price (including GST and hospital charges) stood at 990 pper dose.

“BE has lowered the price of its vaccine with the aim of making it more affordable and help increase the reach to protect maximum number of children against the virus. The decision comes within weeks of Biological E. Limited received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for children between 5 and 12 years of age,” the company said in a statement.

This is the cost to people when administered at private centres. The vaccine is still available free of cost at government centres through the Centre’s vaccination programme. It is currently being used for children between the ages of 12 and 14 years.

So far, 43.9 million doses of Corbevax have been administered to children across the country, with the company already having supplied 100 million doses to the Centre.

In April, both Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin were made available for Rs 225 per dose, down from Rs 600 and Rs 1,200 respectively, with private vaccination centres allowed to charge up to Rs 150 per dose as service charge over and above the cost of the vaccine.

Biological E will also offer single dose vials, which are more convenient for smaller centres offering only a small number of shots daily. It reduces vaccine wastage.

The vaccine was available in a 20-dose vial; once opened the vaccine could be used only within a few hours. Covishield is available in 10 dose vials and Covaxin in 20 dose vials.

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