Bharat Biotech supplies Covaxin to 16 states

Company's co-founder and joint managing director Suchitra Ella on Wednesday tweeted that Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana were supplied the vaccines through government of India from June 8 to 14. 

The Hyderabad-based vaccine maker also made supplies to 16 states during the same period. The states are Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,  Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. 

She also tweeted that vaccine doses were also dispatched to private hospitals in 27 cities across the country from June 8 to 14. 

These include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad. A total of seven cities in Telangana and Andhra were dispatched the vaccine under this category. 

She, however, has not provided details like the number of doses dispatched under the three categories. 

"Our mission is to deliver Covaxin to your towns-cities & states. Pls register & vaccinate @ govt or pvt hospitals near you,"  tweeted Suchitra Ella. 

The company had Monday defended differential pricing policy for the central and state governments and private sector. 

It said that the supply price of Covaxin to the government of India at Rs 150  per dose, is a non-competitive price and clearly not sustainable in the long run. Hence a higher price in private markets is required to offset part of the costs, it said in a statement. 

The company clarified that Covaxin is more expensive for private sector is due to fundamental business reasons, ranging from low procurement volumes, high distribution costs and retail margins. 

At Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals, Covaxin is reported to be third costly vaccine globally. 

Bharat Biotech had fixed the price of Covaxin for state governments at Rs 600 per dose but later slashed it to Rs 400.