100 mn doses by January, says Adar Poonawalla

November 23, 2020 21:56

A minimum of 100 million doses of Covishield - a coronavirus vaccine that this morning was said to be 90 per cent effective under certain conditions - will be available by January and hundreds of million could be ready by the end of February, Adar Poonawalla of the Serum Institute of India told NDTV on Monday evening.

A single dose (two are recommended at this stage) will cost up to Rs 1,000 if purchased from the pharmacy, but the government will buy 90 per cent of the supply at Rs 250 per dose, he explained.

Poonawalla, whose company has an agreement with the government to mass-manufacture the vaccine, said around 40 million doses had already been produced.

"It will be another two-three months for the vaccine to be available in India. By January we will have 100 million doses, minimum. The target set by the government is 300 to 400 million doses by July. We are putting a MRP of Rs 1,000 -- for the private market it will be around Rs 500 or 600 (Rs 200 for the distributor) and Rs 250 or less for the government," Poonawalla said.

He also said the 10 per cent expected to be released to the private market is unlikely to be available before March, making vaccine distribution the preserve of the government till then. The delay, he said, would be because of time needed to complete licensing formalities.

Last week Poonawalla, who said the Serum Institute was concentrating on production for India, said it could take till 2024 for every Indian to get inoculated.

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