New Delhi: Amidst a debate over high prices of Covid19 vaccines in the private hospitals, vaccine manufacturer Bharat Biotech has said that the rate at which it was supplying Covaxin to the government was “not sustainable in the long run”, and a differential price in the private markets was justified to “offset parts of the costs”.
According to the statement made by the company, it said, “As directed by the government of India, less than 10 per cent of our total production of Covaxin to date has been supplied to private hospitals, while most of the remaining quantity was supplied to state and central governments. In such a scenario, the weighted average price of Covaxin for all supplies realised by Bharat Biotech is less than Rs 250 a dose. Going forward, approximately 75 per cent of the capacity will be supplied to state and central governments, with only 25 per cent going to private hospitals,” the company said in a statement.
“The supply price of Covaxin to the government of India at Rs 150 per dose is a non-competitive price and clearly not sustainable in the long run. Hence, a higher price in private markets is required to offset part of the costs,” the company said while citing examples of other pharmaceutical products which are available at differential pricing.
The company added, “There are live examples of such pricing policies where Human Papillomavirus vaccine is priced for GAVI supplies at approximately $4.5 (about Rs 320) per dose, but is also available in the private market at about Rs 3,500 per dose. Rotavirus vaccines are supplied to the government of India at about Rs 60 per dose, but it is also available in the private market for Rs 1,700 per dose. The prices of Covid19 vaccines internationally have varied between $10 and $37 (about Rs 730 to Rs 2,700) per dose”.
