When will Covishield be available at medical stores? Serum Institute answers
Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's largest vaccine maker, on Wednesday announced that it will charge Rs 600 to private hospitals for per dose of the vaccine and Rs 400 to state governments. In a statement posted on its Twitter handle, SII said it will address the limited capacity by scaling up the vaccine production over the next two months.
"Going ahead, 50 per cent of our capacities will be served to the Government of India's vaccination programme, and the remaining 50 per cent of the capacity will be for the state governments and private hospitals," it said.
The vaccine manufacturer also said that COVID vaccines will be made available in retail and free trade after 4-5 months.
"Furthermore, owing to the complexity, and urgency of the situation it is challenging to supply it independently to each corporate entity. We would urge all corporate and private individuals to access the vaccines through the state-facilitated machinery and private health systems. Post 4-5 months, the vaccines will be made available in retail and free trade," it said.
Everyone above 18 years of age will be eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 from May 1, the central government said on Monday and also liberalized the vaccination drive to allow states, private hospitals and industrial establishments to procure the doses directly from manufacturers.
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