Coronavirus | Serum Institute of India skirts around differential pricing for Covishield

Charging the Centre less, and the State governments more, is the sticking point

On Saturday, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, to address the “ongoing public scepticism and confusion towards the ”. The statement came a few hours after Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan tweeted saying that the Central government procurement price for both COVID-19 vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — remains at ₹150 per dose. The Health Ministry, too, tweeted a similar clarification. The tweets from the Health Minister and Health Ministry put to rest the needless confusion over the pricing of vaccines supplied to the Central government. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Mr. Poonawalla claimed that the price of ₹150 per dose was not applicable for any future procurement by the Central government, and said that the vaccine would be sold at ₹400 per dose to both to the Central and State government. He said: “It is not a different price [for State and Central government supplies]. All government prices will henceforth be ₹400 for new contracts. The ₹150 per dose for the Central government was for prior commitment and contracts. It ceases to exist after we supply 100 million doses to them. We will also charge ₹400 to any government, let me clarify that.”