The Centre reportedly has placed an order of 66 crores more doses of Covishield and Covaxin that will be supplied between August and December this year at a revised rate of rupees 205 and 215 per dose and respectively excluding taxes.
The information published in a PTI report stated that the 37.5 crores of Covishield doses from the Serum Institute of India and 28.5 crore Covaxin doses from Bharat Biotech will be purchased by December.
"An order to procure 66 crores more doses of COVID-19 vaccines –Covishield and Covaxin–to be supplied between August and December, at a revised price of ₹ 205 and ₹ 215 per dose, respectively, excluding taxes, has been placed," the source told news agency Press Trust of India.
The price of each dose of Covishield amounts to ₹ 215.25 and Covaxin ₹ 225.75, including taxes, it said.
The Union health ministry which was procuring both the vaccines at ₹ 150 per dose, had indicated that the prices would be revised after the new COVID-19 vaccine procurement policy came into effect from June 21, the report stated.
Under the new policy, the ministry will procure 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the drug manufacturers in the country, the report added.
"While the Centre has asked both the vaccine manufacturing firms to scale up their production, the manufacturers had indicated that getting ₹ 150 for each dose while making investments to ramp up the production was not viable for them," sources were quoted as saying in the PTI report.