Amid rising coronavirus cases, the central government on Thursday said that it has renegotiated the price of the COVID-19 vaccine.
On reducing the price of the COVID-19 vaccine Covisheild, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan during a press conference said: "We have renegotiated the price for the vaccine. The earlier price was Rs 210, including taxes. After that, we have renegotiated the price, which is significantly lower than Rs 200."
The manufacturer of Covishield (Serum Institute of India Ltd.) has agreed to supply 10 crore doses at a price of Rs 150 plus GST per dose for priority group of population above 60 years and those aged between 45 and 60 years with comorbidity, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey recently said in a written reply at Rajya Sabha.
Responding to a question on the Rajasthan government's claim that there is a shortage in COVID-19 vaccine stock, Bhushan said the central government regularly monitors the availability of vaccine supply in all states and UTs and their consumption on a daily basis.
The vaccine stock availability is reviewed every morning. "Data of the usage and consumption of COVID-19 vaccine comes from states. The central government does not vaccinate people. It just makes the vaccines available for free in government facilities and at a fixed rate in private health facilities. According to data available as part of the daily review meeting held today morning, and even three days ago, there was no shortage of COVID-19 vaccine in any state in the country," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
