First consignment of COVID-19 vaccine shipped from Serum Institute

New Delhi, Jan 11: Three temperature-controlled trucks carrying Covishield vaccines have left the Serum Institute of India gates. A puja was performed before the vehicles left facility.

Elaborate security arrangements were in place as the vaccines left the facility.

Vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) on Monday received an order from the government for 11 million vaccine doses of Covishield, ahead of the mega vaccination drive on January 16. The vaccine is priced at Rs 200 per dose.

According to SII, a few million doses of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine 'Covishield' will be supplied every week. 11 million doses may be supplied in the initial lot.

The Covishield shipment will leave from SII's facility in Pune on Tuesday Morning. The Indian vaccine is co-developed by the University of Oxford and British-Swedish company AstraZeneca in collaboration with the SII.

Each dose of the Oxford vaccine has been priced at Rs 200 and with GST of Rs 10 it would cost Rs 210. The HLL Lifecare Limited, a public sector undertaking, issued the supply order on behalf of the Union Health Ministry in the name of Prakash Kumar Singh, Additional Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India (SII).

The world's largest vaccination drive will begin on January 16. Healthcare, frontline workers will be vaccinated will be given priority.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the central government will bear the cost of vaccination for the 30 crore health care and frontline workers. That means, the state governments will not have to pay for this group.

It may be noted that the finance ministry has already approved Rs480 crore for operational cost for the Covid-19 vaccine that central government is paying for.

Covishied is likely to cost Rs 1,000 per dose as MRP, in private market. The export price is expected to be between $3-5 depending on the different countries the company signs deals with.

On Sunday, the Central Drugs and Standards Committee (CDSCO) approved the University of Oxford's Covishield and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for emergency use.