Japanese Giant Toshiba to lay off about 7% of workforce

The Centre is now negotiating with Zydus on the price of the vaccine and will be decided in a meeting between the representatives of the company and the National Expert Group in Vaccine Administration for Covid (NEGVAC) headed by Niti Aayog member VK Paul and health ministry officials likely to be held this week. 

As the active caseload is reducing, India is slowly moving past the destructive aftermath of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic. Experts have opined that in order to avoid a potential third wave, people need to be vaccinated. The government in June had announced that its efforts will be directed towards ramping up the vaccination drive and vaccinate the entire adult population by the end of 2021.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India’s new vaccination plan under which vaccines will be procured by the Central government and starting June 21 anyone over the age of 18 will be eligible for free jabs under the government’s vaccination drive.

Vaccines presently available in India

India’s current arsenal of vaccines consists of two primary vaccines— Covishield and Covaxin. Oxford-AstraZeneca developed Covishield is being produced by Serum Institute of India. India’s indigenously developed vaccine, Covaxin, is being manufactured by Hyderabad Bharat Biotech. Russia’s RFID-developed Sputnik V has received the green signal from the authorities in India and Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories is producing this. Other vaccines that could be possibly added to this list include vaccines made by Moderna, Pfizer, Bio-E and Zydus Cadila.

Moderna has received emergency use approval in India and will be imported into the country by pharma major Cipla. The government said that it is waiting to hear back from Moderna on a few issues and the talks related to contracts have not yet been finalised. Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson are yet to file for the emergency use authorization application for their vaccines in India.

Cost of vaccines

While the government is providing free jabs of Covishield and Covaxin as a part of its nationwide inoculation drive, these vaccines along with Sputnik V are also available in private hospitals. As per the government’s latest vaccine procurement policy, the private sector is eligible to buy 25% of the total vaccines produced by the manufacturers, while 75% is reserved for government procurement.

The prices for the jabs at private hospitals have however been capped. As per the government’s directive, Covishield’s price is capped at Rs 780, Covaxin at Rs 1,410 and Sputnik at Rs 1,145. A service charge of a maximum Rs 150 can be charged for administering these jabs.