Serum Institute to price COVID vaccine at less than Rs 250/dose

As per SII, the vaccines will be available as early as the first half of 2021 after gaining approvals and qualifications from the World Health Organization (WHO). The SII also said that if successful, Novavax's candidate will be available to all 92 countries while AstraZeneca's candidate vaccine will be available to 57 Gavi-eligible countries.

The development comes after the SII entered into a collaboration with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of COVAX agreement. Under the agreement, the SII will receive an upfront capital of $150 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation via Gavi to enhance the capacity to manufacture and distribute the potential vaccine to candidates on a large scale after gaining regulatory approval and WHO prequalification. The funding will support at-risk manufacturing by SII for candidate vaccines from AstraZeneca and Novavax.

Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), commented, "India has demonstrated consistent capability in delivering low-cost and high-quality medical research, while also maintaining technical and scientific rigour. ICMR is deeply supportive of our cutting edge vaccine research and manufacturing prowess, of which SII is one prominent example. This partnership signifies yet another step in India's efforts to bolster the fight against this global pandemic." (IANS)

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