Private hospitals will now be able to buy a dose of Covid-19 vaccines Covishield and Covaxin for Rs 225.
Image for representation | (PTI)
A single dose of Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin will now cost private hospitals Rs 225.
SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said in a tweet on Saturday that the vaccine manufacturer, after consultation with the central government in this regard, has decided to reduce the prices of COVID-19 jab for private hospitals from Rs 600 to Rs 225.
Similarly, Bharat Biotech co-founder Suchitra Ella announced that the vaccine maker has also decided to reduce the price of Covaxin from Rs 1,200 to Rs 225 per dose for private hospitals. He said that this decision has been taken in consultation with the Central Government.
The Union Health Ministry on Friday announced that the precautionary dose of COVID-19 vaccine will be available to all people above 18 years of age at private immunization centers from April 10.
Union health ministry officials said those wishing to get a booster dose would need to ensure that nine months have passed since they received the second dose.
Since the launch of the nationwide vaccination campaign in January last year, nearly 96 per cent of people over the age of 15 have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 jab. At the same time, 83 percent have received both doses of Kovid-19 vaccine.
Apart from this, more than 2.4 crore precautionary doses have also been given to health workers, frontline workers and people aged 60 years and above.
Government data also shows that over 45 per cent of the beneficiaries in the age group of 12-14 years have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.