SII Corona Vaccine Cost: Serum Institute Getting Closer To Signing Deal, Likely To Sell A Dose For Rs 250

Pune-based Serum Institute of India is expected to sign a supply contract with the central government and may fix the price of the dose at Rs 250.

(Representative Image/ Getty)

New Delhi: Serum Institute of India (SII) is getting closer to signing the deal with the Centre and have applied for emergency use authorization to the DCGI (Drugs Controller General of India). SII is the first Indian pharma to apply for authorisation after the US-based pharma Pfizer applied for authorisation in the country. According to media reports,SII is likely to sign a supply contract with the central government, under which the price of the COVID-19 vaccine may be fixed at Rs 250 per dose and approximately 60 million could be made available soon. The company is likely to have around 100 million doses for the government by January-February (2021), if the Centre chooses to procure. SII is developing the vaccine in collaboration with the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca to manufacture the vaccine in India is learned to have already manufactured 40 million doses of the vaccine under the at-risk manufacturing and stockpiling license it obtained from the DCGI. SII vaccine named 'Covishield' is said to be India's main hope of large-scale supplies as it can be stored in 2 Celsius to 8 Celsius. Meanwhile, the Centre has indicated that it would need 60 million doses to vaccinate 30 million people on its priority list, which will comprise healthcare and frontline essential services workers such as public transport operators, municipality staff. Hyderabad based firm Bharat Biotech has also sought for emergency authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine “Covaxin”, became the second Indian vaccine candidate that applied to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).