SII to give free Covishield vials to private vaccination centres to compensate for price difference

The inventories at the private CVCs would be verified by SII representatives and the claim would then be processed on the basis of their approval.

PTI

April 10, 2022 / 14:43 IST

(Image: AFP)

A day after slashing the price of the precaution dose of Covishield to Rs 225 per shot for private hospitals, the Serum Institute of India (SII) told the Centre on Sunday that it will compensate for the price difference for the unexpired stocks lying with private centres in the form of free vials of fresh stocks, official sources said.

Vaccine majors SII and Bharat Biotech on Saturday said they have decided to cut the prices of the precaution dose of their respective COVID-19 vaccines to Rs 225 per shot for private hospitals after discussions with the government.

Also Read: Covaxin, Covishield prices slashed to Rs 225 per shot, a day before precaution drive starts

Bharat Biotech had also announced that the price differential with any existing stocks of Covaxin in private hospitals shall be compensated in the form of additional doses.

In a communication to the Union health ministry, Prakash Kumar Singh, director, government and regulatory affairs at the SII, on Sunday said, "As per direction of Dr Adar C Poonawalla, we want to inform you that we will compensate the price difference for the current unexpired stocks lying with private COVID vaccination centres (CVCs)."

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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SII to give free Covishield vials to private vaccination centres to compensate for price difference

The inventories at the private CVCs would be verified by SII representatives and the claim would then be processed on the basis of their approval.

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SII to give free Covishield vials to private vaccination centres to compensate for price difference

The inventories at the private CVCs would be verified by SII representatives and the claim would then be processed on the basis of their approval.

Related stories

Subscribe to Tech Newsletters

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