India set to buy Zydus Cadila's coronavirus vaccine
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The three-dose vaccine, ZyCoV-D, was approved by the country's drug regulator in August for emergency use in adults and children aged 12 years and above.
India has placed an order for 10 million doses of Zydus Cadila's DNA COVID-19 vaccine at a price of $3.57 per dose, the drugmaker said on Monday.
The three-dose vaccine, ZyCoV-D, was approved by the country's drug regulator in August for emergency use in adults and children aged 12 years and above.
As opposed to traditional syringes, it is administered using a needle-free "PharmaJet" applicator.
"The needle-free application of the vaccination, we hope, will motivate many more to vaccinate and safeguard themselves from COVID-19," Sharvil Patel, managing director of Zydus, said in a filing to the stock exchanges.
The total cost to the government to inoculate a person with the vaccine and the applicator would come up to $14.48.
India has so far administered nearly 1.09 billion vaccine doses to its adult population, of which 88 per cent have received a version of AstraZeneca's shot by the Serum Institute of India, which sells it to the state governments at Rs 400 a dose and to private hospitals for Rs 600.
The two other shots used are a home-grown one by vaccine maker Bharat Biotech and Russia's Sputnik V. Bharat Biotech supplies its vaccine at Rs 150 a dose, while Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, the supplier of Sputnik V, has priced the shot at Rs 995.
The Rs 265 price had been decided in consultation with the government, Zydus said.