Serum Institute gets work order to supply 11 million doses of vaccine at ₹200 per dose

Jan. 11: India’s drugs regulator has approved Oxford vaccine Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute, and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country. Pune-based pharmaceutical firm Serum Institute of India has been given a purchase order of 11 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine by the Union government at ₹200 per dose.

With these two vaccines, India is set to kickstart the world’s biggest Covid-19 vaccination drive with an aim to inoculate 300 million people from 16 January. In the first phase of the drive, health workers, both from government and private institutions, will be vaccinated along with sanitation workers, other frontline workers, defence forces, police and other paramilitary forces. In the second phase, those above 50 years and those under 50 years with co-morbid conditions will be vaccinated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the two already approved made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines are more cost-effective than any other in the world, and have been developed as per the country’s needs. The Prime Minister said that the state governments will not have to bear the expenses of vaccination of the three crore people in the first phase, the Centre will pay for it.