MC Exclusive | Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid vaccine to cost Rs 800 plus 5% GST

A single dose of Bharat Biotech’s intranasal vaccine iNCOVACC, which has been approved for inclusion into India’s Covid-19 immunisation programme, will cost Rs 800 each plus 5 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) per dose for private hospitals, top government sources told Moneycontrol.

Provided that private hospitals are permitted to charge up to Rs 150 as administrative fees for every dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, one dose of this vaccine developed on a technology licensed by the Washington University in St Louis may cost about Rs 1,000 for every recipient.

The intranasal vaccine, which has been earlier approved both as a booster shot for those fully vaccinated with Covaxin or Covishield, as well as a primary vaccine for a full two-dose course against Covid-19, would be available at private vaccination centres by the end of January.

“Bharat Biotech had reached out to us for price fixation of its intranasal and it has been approved now; the vaccine is going to be available in less than a month in private hospitals,” a senior government official said.

The government has urged all adults, especially the vulnerable population groups, to receive precautionary doses against coronavirus amid concerns of a fresh wave of Covid-19 in the country as neighbouring China, which recently lifted all coronavirus-related restrictions, is facing a massive surge in infections.

Vaccination status

As of now, the government is not planning to procure iNCOVACC for vaccination at government hospitals, which is provided free of cost to the eligible beneficiaries.

Government hospitals offer Covishield and Covaxin as a booster or precautionary dose for all above 60 years provided they have completed their primary vaccination schedule at least 6 months earlier.

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Those in the 18-59-year age group, however, are entitled to receive booster doses only in private hospitals by paying predetermined rates.

Private hospitals meanwhile said they expect demand for booster doses, especially the intranasal vaccine, to rise in the wake of the COVID-19 situation in China.

“But the booster uptake may still stay low, given that India’s COVID-19 situation seems stable, if the intranasal vaccine is prohibitively expensive,” Girdhar J Gyani, director general of the Association of Private Healthcare Providers of India, said.

Bharat Biotech has not responded to a query by this publication on the launch of this vaccine but sources in the company said the quantity of supply will depend on the demand raised by private vaccination centres.

This copy will be updated when the vaccine maker responds to our query.

So far in India, less than 30 percent of those eligible for precautionary doses have received it and experts say that those aged 60 and above, people with multiple co-morbidities and immunocompromised should make it a point to receive booster COVID-19 vaccine.

Potential game-changer?

The iNCOVACC is an adenoviral vector-based SARS CoV-2 vaccine for nasal administration only and its vaccination course consists of two separate doses of 0.5 ml of 8 drops with 4 drops indicated for each nostril.

Once called a “game-changer” for its potential role in preventing transmission of the virus and not just severity of the disease, the vaccine has been studied in phases 1 and 2 and an ongoing phase 3 clinical studies for safety and immunogenicity and found to be safe and immunogenic, as per data submitted to the Drug Controller General of India.

"As the vaccine is administered through the nose, where the virus enters humans, it has the potential to block infection and disrupt the cycle of transmission, apart from preventing lung damage," said a virologist working with a research institution run by the department of science and biotechnology.

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A package insert on the vaccine, accessed by Moneycontrol, showed the company claiming that the vaccine has been evaluated and shown satisfactory immune response against several variants of such as Delta, Beta and Omicron including the recent variant BA.5.

“Cell mediated immune response, both T and B cell phenotype distribution is evaluated against SARS-CoV-2 variants including omicron variants found the response is persistent across variants,” says the insert.

Senior government officials are also upbeat about the ease with which the vaccine can be stored and administered.

“Once opened, multi-dose vials should be used within 6 hours and stored at 2 to 8ºC between administrations,” the insert says.