Covovax First Indian COVID Vaccine To Be Sold In Europe, Says SII's Adar Poonawalla

Covovax Vaccine Update: Calling it an "important milestone, the CEO said, "We hope that in future other vaccines made in India will also be accepted and used in Europe."

Serum Institute of India's CEO Adar Poonawalla gestures during a press conference (File photo: AFP)

New Delhi: Adar Poonawalla, CEO, of Serum Institute of India (SII) on Tuesday said that Covovax is the first made-in-India vaccine to be sold in Europe.

The COVID vaccine has been successful to a great extent in getting rid of the problems that have come up during the COVID period, the vaccine made in India was also exported to many countries of the world. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India, which makes the Covishield vaccine, said that we have a stock of 200 million doses.

"We have a stockpile of 200 million doses of Covishield...We've already exported 40 million doses of Covovax to European countries, Australia. It's for the first time that a vaccine made in India is sold in Europe," said Poonawalla in an exclusive interview with ANI.

Calling it an "important milestone, the CEO said, "We hope that in future other vaccines made in India will also be accepted and used in Europe."

He said that we reduced the cost (of the dose of the vaccine in private hospitals) to make it more accessible to everyone who wants to take it.

Poonawalla said, "We reduced the price (of vaccine doses at private hospitals) to make it more accessible to every person who wants to take it. We are charging Rs 225 and the hospitals charge an administration fee of another Rs 150 so that is substantially less than Rs 800-900."

We reduced the price (of vaccine doses at pvt hospitals) to make it more accessible to every person who wants to take it. We are charging Rs 225 & the hospitals charge an administration fee of another Rs 150 so that is substantially less than Rs 800-900: Adar Poonawalla, CEO, SII pic.twitter.com/nlskfLQKHi

— ANI (@ANI) April 12, 2022

"Covovax will be used for children. It has been approved by DCGI and we're waiting for GoI to allow us to put it on CoWIN app to make it available to everyone. If it's taken in the govt program also then we'll charge the same price of Rs 225 even for the private market," he added.

Adar Poonawalla said, "Covovax will be used for children. It has been approved by DCGI and we're waiting for the Government of India to allow us to put it on the CoWIN app to make it available to everyone."

"If it's taken in the government program also, then the SII will charge the same price of Rs 225 even for the private market," he informed.

He also appealed to the government for a gap of 6 months instead of 9 months.

"The (vaccine inoculation) uptick right now is a bit slow...because we have got this rule that you have to wait for nine months between dose two and three. We have appealed to the govt on how to reduce this further to six months, will propose the six-month gap," he said.