MUMBAI (Reuters) – Serum Institute of India has cut the price of its Covishield COVID-19 vaccine as the country plans to offer booster doses to all adults from Sunday.
The price will drop to 225 rupees ($2.96) per dose from 600 rupees for private hospitals, SII’s chief executive said in a tweet on Saturday.
“After discussion with the central government, SII has decided to revise the price of the Covishield vaccine for private hospitals,” said Adar Poonawalla in a Tweet.
SII, the world’s largest vaccine maker, produces AstraZeneca’s (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccine under the brand name Covishield.
Of the 1.85 billion doses of vaccine India provided to its population of 1.35 billion, 82% were Covishields.
People over the age of 18 who received a second dose nine months ago will be able to benefit from the additional “precautionary” dose, the health minister said on Friday, using the government term for the boosters.
The booster program, which began in January, is limited to frontline workers and the elderly and has administered 24 million doses so far.
When the program is extended on Sunday, people who are not part of the two priority categories will have to pay for the vaccines in private establishments, without the possibility of mixing the vaccines.
($1 = 75.9381 Indian rupees)