(Fixes spelling of ‘widen’ in headline)
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Serum Institute of India has cut the price of its Covishield COVID-19 vaccine as the country plans to offer booster doses to all adults from Sunday.
The price will drop to 225 rupees ($2.96) a dose from 600 rupees for private hospitals, the chief executive of SII said in a Tweet on Saturday.
“After discussion with the central government, SII has decided to revise the price of Covishield vaccine for private hospitals,” Adar Poonawalla said in a Tweet.
SII, the world’s biggest vaccine maker, produces AstraZeneca’s (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccine under the brand name Covishield.
Of the 1.85 billion vaccine doses India has supplied to its population of 1.35 billion, 82% have been Covishield.
Those over 18 who received a second dose nine months ago will be eligible for the additional “precaution” dose, the health ministry said on Friday, using the government’s term for boosters.
The booster programme, which started in January, is limited to frontline workers and the elderly and has so far administered 24 million doses.
When the programme is extended on Sunday, those outside the two priority categories will have to pay for the shots at privately run facilities, with no mixing and matching of vaccines allowed.
($1 = 75.9381 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Mike Harrison)
