COVID-19: Indian vaccines sold in Europe for first time, says Adar Poonawalla; lauds Centre's work during pandemic

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla on Tuesday said that in a first, a vaccine made in India is being sold in Europe. He informed that they had a stockpile of 200 million doses, adding they had already exported 40 million doses to European countries and Australia.

Delhi | We have a stockpile of 200 million doses...We've already exported 40 million doses to European countries, Australia. It's for the first time that a vaccine made in India is sold in Europe: Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India

— ANI (@ANI) April 12, 2022

Poonawalla said, “We reduced the price (of vaccine doses at private hospitals) to make it more accessible to every person who wants to take it. We are charging Rs 225 and the hospitals charge an administration fee of another Rs 150 so that is substantially less than Rs 800-900.”

“Covovax will be used for children. It has been approved by DCGI and we’re waiting for GoI to allow us to put it on CoWIN app to make it available to everyone. If it’s taken in the govt program also then we’ll charge the same price of Rs 225 even for the private market,” he added.

As per a report by _India.com, v_accine majors Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech last week said they have decided to cut prices of the precaution dose of their respective COVID-19 vaccines to Rs 225 per shot for private hospitals after discussion with the government.

On 9 April, Poonawalla said in a tweet that SII had decided to revise the price of Covishield vaccine for private hospitals from Rs 600 to Rs 225 per dose.

Poonawalla’s tweet:

We are pleased to announce that after discussion with the Central Government, SII has decided to revise the price of COVISHIELD vaccine for private hospitals from Rs.600 to Rs 225 per dose. We once again commend this decision from the Centre to open precautionary dose to all 18+.

— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) April 9, 2022

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In a similar tweet, Bharat Biotech Co-Founder Joint Managing Director Suchitra Ella had earlier said in a tweet said that they welcomed the decision to make available precautionary dose for all adults. Ella’s tweet:

Announcing #CovaxinPricing .
We welcome the decision to make available precautionary dose for all adults. In consultation with the Central Government, we have decided to revise the price of #COVAXIN from Rs 1200 to Rs 225 per dose, for #privatehospitals.🇮🇳💉💉💉😷

— Suchitra Ella (@SuchitraElla) April 9, 2022

 According to a report by news agency ANI, amid the overall cases and positivity rate declining in the country and states like Maharashtra, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh revoking the COVID restrictions, Adar Poonawalla, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Serum Institute of India (SII), praised the Central Government for their work during the pandemic and hinted at the announcement of a booster dose policy.

Speaking on the booster dose policy, he praised the Central government and said, “For the booster dose, we have appealed to the government for few months, as everyone who needs to travel needs to take booster dose, the government has already covered entire adult population with two doses and now, time for the booster has also come” He also mentioned that all the other countries have already initiated the booster dose and now it was India’s turn to match the suit.

He also compared the vaccines of India to the vaccines in Europe and America.

“The Covid cases in India are less because we chose the right vaccine. If and when the fourth wave comes, it will be mild hopefully, I don’t want to make any predictions but if you look at the way our nation has responded to the new mutant variant, our vaccines have been proven far better,” said Poonawalla.

With inputs from agencies

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