For private buyers, Covishield will be sold to at a higher price of Rs.1000 per dose.

Adar Poonawalla said that the first 100 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are being sold to the Indian government at a “special price” of Rs 200 per dose, after which prices would be higher.

The Indian government gave emergency authorisation to the Oxford University-AstraZeneca, but on the condition that SII doesn’t export the shots to ensure that vulnerable populations in India are protected.

He said that the company also has been barred from selling the vaccine on the private market. “We can only give (the vaccines) to the government of India at the moment,” Adar Poonawalla said.

Adar Poonawalla added that the Serum Institute was in the process of signing a larger contract with Covax for 300 million-400 million doses of the vaccine.

Covax is an initiative created to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines set up by the World Health Organization, vaccines alliance GAVI and CEPI, a global coalition to fight epidemics.

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Now, the total cases in the country stands at 93,92,920.

With 496 deaths in a day, the toll has mounted to 1,36,696. The country has 4,53,956 active cases of coronavirus, the Union health ministry said on Sunday.

In the past 24 hours, 42,298 patients were discharged across the country, taking the total recovered patients to 88,02,267.

The total number of samples tested up to Saturday stood at 13,95,03,803, including 12,83,449 samples tested yesterday itself, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Sunday.

The ICMR has also approved a “simple and fast method for Covid-19 testing, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) said on Saturday. This method can not only increase the number of RT-PCR tests, but can also bring down costs, the CSIR said.

Serum Institute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla said that the Pune-based pharma company is in the process of applying for emergency use authorisation of ‘Covishield’ in the next two weeks.

‘Covishield’ is the experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca in affiliation with the SII.

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The total coronavirus cases mounted to 83,64,086 and the deaths have climbed to 1,24,315 with the virus claiming 704 lives in the last 24 hours in the country.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate was recorded at 1.49 percent. So far, there are 5,27,962 active cases of COVID-19 which comprises 6.31 percent of the total caseload.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 11,42,08,384 samples have been tested up to November 4, with 12,09,425 samples being tested on November 5.

Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer (CEO) of Pune-based pharmaceutical company Serum Institute of India (SII) said that the covid vaccine is likely to be available in the country by January 2021 provided approvals from regulatory bodies are in place and only if its proven immunogenic and efficacious.

The SII is working in collaboration with British- Sweden pharma major AstraZeneca to produce the potential covid-19 vaccine Covishield.

The CEO of the world’s largest drug manufacturing firm also said that the firm is in talks with the government over the pricing of the vaccine and assured that it will be available at a reasonable price.

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Mr.Poonawalla said that the vaccine will be made affordable by keeping the cost at a moderate price.

The CEO said that at present the company is working with the AstraZeneca- Oxford vaccine which is undergoing Phase-III clinical trials. In addition to this, the company is planning to start human trials in India in August , this year, with 4000-5000 volunteers. Based on the success of the trials, his company was expecting to launch the vaccine by the end of the year.

The Indian leg of the trial is important because of the higher pre-existing immunity levels of the population.

Shedding more light on what would be the next course of action for the Serum Institute, Mr Poonawalla said he is hoping to get approvals from the government to conduct the phase III vaccine trials in India.

The experimental vaccine, tentatively named as AZD1222, was found to be safe, prompting a strong immune response in over a thousand people it was administered to in early human trials. The preliminary findings were published on July 20 in The Lancet Medical Journal. AstraZeneca and Oxford University have chosen the Serum Institute to produce the vaccine in India once it is ready.

One of the largest vaccine makers in the world, Serum Institute, had last month signed a deal with AstraZeneca to supply one billion doses to India and other low and middle-income-countries. He clarifies that the institute is well equipped with state-of-the-art technology to manufacture COVID-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile the Government of India is speeding up the regulatory clearances needed for the Serum Institute of India’s upcoming phase III trial. Niti Aayog member and the chairperson of the national task force for covid-19 said that the government is also willing to provide financial support and other essential support needed by vaccine developers.

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