India is going through the worst time since the start of the Corona epidemic. And so, the Modi government will start a free immunization program across the country this month to control the outbreak. However, in the meantime, Kovacin vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech has expressed extreme fears. The company claims that they do not want to provide the government with the vaccine at a 150 INR per dose.
On Tuesday, the agency said that the central government couldn’t provide vaccines at Rs 150 per dose for a long time. Because of the low cost of delivering vaccines to the central government, the price in the private sector is skyrocketing.
India Biotech has so far provided Rs 400 per dose to state governments and Rs 1,200 per dose to private hospitals. The Modi government will launch a free immunization program across India from June 21. As such, the Indian government will buy 75 per cent of the total production from the company, which will have to supply the company at Rs 150 per dose. And that’s where the vaccine maker sounds the alarm.
The company said that it needed to keep prices higher in the private market to keep costs in check. India Biotech has invested over Rs 500 crore in importing raw materials for vaccines, clinical trials and setting up manufacturing units for covacin.
Recently, the price of corona vaccine in the Indian market has been fixed by the country’s central government. In the private sector, the cost of covacin has been kept at Tk 1,410. You have to pay 150 rupees GST. To be clear, even though it is produced in the country with its investment, the most expensive vaccine in the Indian market is covacin. However, in terms of effectiveness, this vaccine lags far behind Covishield.
It may be mentioned that from January 17 this year, the Central Government of India started a simultaneous vaccination program across the country. However, so far, the country has been able to bring less than 5 per cent of the total population under vaccination. And at this time, the government may have to suffer a lot from the decision of India Biotech.
