Serum cuts Covishield price by 25%

New Delhi: After much backlash for the last set of pricing announced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), for its Covishield vaccine, Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla on Wednesday announced that the world's largest vaccine maker would give the State governments a Rs 100 discount on every dose. In a tweet, Poonawalla called this cut a "philanthropic gesture" that will save crores of rupees of State funds and save countless lives. That's a sharp departure from his stand just a few days ago. These are the prices fixed by the Serum Institute of India (SII) for the Covishield vaccine are:

Now the price per dose to the Central government is Rs 150, to State governments Rs 300 and to the private hospitals, the vaccine costs Rs 600. The earlier price announced for State governments was Rs 400 a dose. On April 24, Poonawalla's company was defending the prices announced by the company earlier. "We have to ensure sustainability as we must be able to invest in scaling up and expanding our capacity to fight the pandemic and save lives," said a statement from the SII.

However, now the company has decided to cut the prices, but the debate is far from over. 

The analysis of data from the ZOE Covid Symptom Study app found much fewer side effects in the general population with both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines than reported in trials. The study also reports a significant decrease of infection rates from 12 to 21 days after the first dose of the Pfizer (58 per cent reduction) and AstraZeneca (39 per cent reduction) vaccines compared to a control group.

The drop in infection at least 21 days after the first dose for Pfizer is 69 per cent and for AstraZeneca 60 per cent, according to the study. Systemic effects included headache, fatigue, chills and shiver, diarrhoea, fever, arthralgia, myalgia, and nausea.

Local side-effects — meaning side effects where the injection took place in the arm — included pain at the site of injection, swelling, tenderness, redness, itch, warmth and swollen armpit glands. "The data should reassure many people that in the real world, after effects of the vaccine are usually mild and short-lived, especially in the over 50's who are most at risk of the infection," said Professor Tim Spector, lead scientist on the ZOE Covid Symptom Study app and Professor at King's College, London.