Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Global pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer is awaiting the Government of India’s approval to its offer to supply Covid-19 vaccine at not-for-profit prices in the country currently in the grip of a devastating second wave of the pandemic.
The vaccine, jointly developed by the US major and Germany’s BioNTech, is already being used in America and other countries to combat Covid-19.
” Pfizer is discussing with the Indian government an expedited approval pathway to make Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine available for use in the country”, its Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said on Monday, according to media reports.
Until now, India has been using indigenous vaccine Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, and Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) under a license from its developers, the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. A third vaccine, Russia’s Sputnik V, also began arriving last week to speed up the ongoing vaccination program. Some other vaccines are in the pipeline in the next few months.
In April, the company had said that it had offered a not-for-profit price for its vaccine for the government immunisation programme in India and it remains committed to continuing engagement with the government to make the vaccine available in the country. It had withdrawn its application for approval in February and yet to reapply, media reported.
“Pfizer is aware that access to vaccines is critical to ending this pandemic. Unfortunately, our vaccine is not registered in India although our application was submitted months ago. We are currently discussing with the Indian government an expedited approval pathway to make our Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine available for use in the country,” Bourla said in a mail sent to Pfizer India employees and shared on his LinkedIn post.
Earlier, the company had said that, during the pandemic phase, it will supply the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 mRNA vaccine only through government contracts.
According to reports, Pfizer had priced its vaccine at around USD 10 (Rs. 750) per jab in South Africa. Globally, as per contracts, its price per dose ranges between USD 6.75 and USD 23.50, according to Global Health Centre. In the US itself, the Pfizer vaccine costs USD 20 (Rs.1,500) per dose.
Last month, India fast-tracked and allowed emergency use approval (EUA) of those imported vaccines which have already been approved for restricted use by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (UK MHRA), Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device Agency (PMDA), Japan, or which are listed in WHO (emergency use listing).