Bharat Biotech announces COVAXIN price for state, private hospitals.
Covaxin, India's indigeniously developmed coronavirus vaccine, will be sold at Rs 600 per dose for state hospitals and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals, vaccine maker Bharat Biotech has informed.
Earlier in the day, Serum Institute of India (SII), which is manufacturing Covishield vaccine against coronavirus, also announced its price for the private hospitals. Serum Institute said Covishield will be sold to private ones in limited order at Rs 600 per dose.
Bharat Biotech on Wednesday said its coronavirus vaccine Covaxin has shown efficacy of 78 per cent against mild, moderate and severe cases of COVID-19, as per Phase III interim analysis results.
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The vaccine maker noted that the second interim data of the Phase III study also showed that chances of hospitalisation due to the infectious disease were reduced by 100 per cent after taking the Covaxin jab.
Due to the recent surge in cases, 127 symptomatic cases were recorded, resulting in a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 78 per cent against mild, moderate, and severe COVID-19 disease, Bharat Biotech said in a statement.
The efficacy against asymptomatic COVID-19 infection was 70 per cent, suggesting decreased transmission in Covaxin recipients, it added.
"Efficacy against SARS-Cov-2 has been established. Covaxin has demonstrated an excellent safety record in human clinical trials and in usage under emergency use. Covaxin is now a global innovator vaccine derived from R&D in India," Bharat Biotech Chairman and Managing Director Krishna Ella said.
The efficacy data against severe COVID-19 and asymptomatic infections is highly significant, as this helps reduce hospitalisations and disease transmission, respectively, he added.
As vaccination drive is underway in the country, India has become the fastest country to administer 14 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine in just 99 days. Also, the country has administered more than 24 lakh vaccine doses administered till 8 pm on Saturday (April 24), Union Health Ministry has informed.
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