The Serum Institute of India (SII) has announced that it will price its Covishield vaccine at Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals and Rs 400 per dose for state governments. In a statement, SII has said, “For the next two months, we will address the limited capacity by scaling up the vaccine production. Going ahead, 50% of our capacities will be served to the Government of India’s vaccination program, and the remaining 50% of the capacity will be for the state governments and private hospitals.”

In an order earlier this week, the Centre said all above 18 years of age are eligible for vaccination from May 1. As it liberalized the vaccination drive, the government allowed states, private hospitals, and industrial establishments to procure the vaccine doses directly from manufacturers.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged India’s vaccine manufacturers to continuously scale up their production capacity to vaccinate all Indians in the shortest possible time. India on Wednesday recorded nearly 3 lakh fresh cases in its biggest jump so far. The death toll has also gone up by over 2,000 in a day. PM Modi said the private sector will play an even more active role in the vaccination drive in the coming days and that this will require better coordination between hospitals and the industry.

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In another significant move, the Centre has approved advance funds of Rs 3,000 crore for the Serum Institute and Rs 1,500 crore for Bharat Biotech, which is producing the Covaxin shots. On the other hand, Johnson & Johnson has applied to India’s drug regulator seeking permission to conduct a phase-3 clinical trial of its single-dose Covid-19 vaccine in India while also seeking an import license.