Orders Placed for One Crore Doses of ZyCov-D
NEW DELHI, Nov 8: The central government has placed an order for 10 million doses of Zydus Cadila’s DNA Covid-19 vaccine at a price of 265 rupees ($3.57) per dose, the Ahmedabad-based pharma major said on Monday.
The three-dose vaccine, ZyCoV-D, was approved by the country’s drug regulator in August for emergency use in adults and children aged 12 years and above. As opposed to traditional syringes, it is administered using a needle-free “PharmaJet” applicator, which will be sold at Rs 93 per dose.
“The needle-free application of the vaccination, we hope, will motivate many more to vaccinate and safeguard themselves from COVID-19,” Sharvil Patel, managing director of Zydus informed the stock exchanges.
The total cost to the government to inoculate a person with the vaccine and the applicator would come up to 1,074 rupees ($14.48). India has so far administered nearly 1.09 billion vaccine doses to its adult population, of which 88% have received a version of AstraZeneca’s shot by the Serum Institute of India, which sells it to the state governments at Rs 400 a dose and to private hospitals for Rs 600.
The two other shots used are a home-grown one by vaccine maker Bharat Biotech and Russia’s Sputnik V. Bharat Biotech supplies its vaccine at Rs 150 a dose while Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, the supplier of Sputnik V has priced the shot at Rs 995 per dose. The Rs 265 a dose price had been decided in consultation with the government, Zydus had claimed.
(Manas Dasgupta
