Pune: The CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), Adar Poonawalla, on Tuesday said his firm has decided to sell the first 100 million doses of Covishield vaccine at a special price to the government.
Poonawalla said the SII will be selling these vaccines at Rs 200 per dose as per the government’s request.
Following this, however, the Pune-based firm will sell the Covishield vaccine at Rs 1,000 per dose to private players, he added.
“We have given a special price of Rs 200 for the first 100 million doses only to the Government of India on their request that we want to support the common man, vulnerable, poor and healthcare workers. After that, we will be selling it at Rs 1,000 in private markets,” the SII CEO was quoted as saying by India Today.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, the first consignment of Covishield, the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and manufactured in India by the SII, was dispatched to 13 locations from the Pune firm.
“This is a historic moment that the vaccine is being dispatched from our factory. Our main challenge is to make it available to everyone in the country. It’s our challenge for 2021, let us see how it happens,” Poonawalla told news agency ANI.
